Potential chlorinated and brominated interferences on the polybrominated diphenyl ether determinations by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

12 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables.-- PMID: 12967183 [PubMed].-- Printed version published Aug 8, 2003.
The analysis of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners by GC–MS was studied in terms of potential interferences. Different MS approaches were normally used for the PBDE analyses: negative ion chemical ionization (NICI-MS) and electron ionization (EI-MS). This paper studied the presence of potential interferences in each instrumental technique approach, principally those corresponding to different chlorinated compounds (PCBs, PCNs, etc.) as well as brominated compounds (PBBs, MeO-PBDEs, TBBPA, etc.). The two ionization modes are subjected to different types of interferences. In general, EI-MS is affected by chlorinated interferences, especially PCBs. NICI-MS eliminated chlorinated interferences but presented different brominated interferences, well resolved with the EI-MS approach.
This research project was made possible by funding provided by the European Commission under the Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development programme (Standardised aquatic monitoring of priority pollutants by passive sampling (STAMPS), project number EVK1-CT2002-00119), and by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia (TRACOAL, PPQ2001-1805-C03-01 and BQU2002-10946-E).