Analysis of alkyl and 2-6-ringed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by isotope dilution gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Quality assurance and determination in Spanish river sediments.

An accurate, precise and sensitive method is described for the analysis of 29 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), including 19 2-6-ringed PAHs and 10 alkyl-PAHs. The method is based on an isotope dilution technique using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and available labeled PAHs as internal standards. Quality parameters were calculated with satisfactory results and 36 Spanish river sediments were analysed. Results were evaluated regarding to the sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) based on the effects range-low (ERL) and the effects range-median (ERM) values. Most analysed sediments showed a good quality, since only 7 of them exceeded ERL values, including one sample surpassing ERM values. PAH profiles were studied in order to identify PAH sources as mainly petrogenic or pyrogenic. Most samples showed petrogenic-type fingerprints, although 6 of the 11 sediments with the highest PAH concentrations (> 1000 ng/g) were classified as pyrogenic, including 4 of the 7 samples exceeding ERL values. Quality assurance was carried out by the triplicate analysis of one preanalysed river sediment without PAHs subsequently spiked at a medium (500 ng/g) and a low concentration level (10 ng/g) of each analyte. Main quality requirements for methods based on isotope dilution were accomplished. Method accuracy was 80-120% for most PAHs, method precision was <15% for all the analysed compounds and method detection limits (MDLs) were 1-3 ng/g.

Analysis of pesticides and metabolites in Spanish surface waters by isotope dilution gas chromatography/mass spectrometry with previous automated solid-phase extraction Estimation of the uncertainty of the analytical results.

A method based on isotope dilution gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) with automated solid-phase extraction (SPE) is described for the analysis of 32 pesticides and metabolites in surface waters. This approach consist in the use of nine isotopically labelled representative pesticides as internal standards, which allows high accuracy (trueness and precision) and sensitivity for most analysed compounds, as it is required for isotope dilution-based methods. Uncertainties associated with pesticide determination in real samples were estimated using quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) data. For most pesticides expanded uncertainty was below 40%, according to the commonly established requirements for analytical results. Ninety three Spanish surface waters collected in June-July and September-November 2004 were analysed. Concentration and occurrence of pesticides were evaluated. These parameters were higher in the summer than in the autumn period. In summer four pesticides were found in more than 50% of the analysed samples and four compounds were detected above the concentration level of 1 microg/l (atrazine, terbutylazine, 3,4-dichloroaniline and fenitrothion), while in autumn percentage of detection was below 50% for all pesticides and only one compound (terbutylazine) exceeded 1 microg/l.