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COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DIOXINS AND FURANS BY ELECTRON IMPACT, HIGHRESOLUTION MASS SPECTROMETRY AND BY ELECTRON CAPTURE, NEGATIVEIONIZATION, LOW RESOLUTION MASS SPECTROMETRY
Citation:
Koester, C., R. Harless, AND R. Hites. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DIOXINS AND FURANS BY ELECTRON IMPACT, HIGHRESOLUTION MASS SPECTROMETRY AND BY ELECTRON CAPTURE, NEGATIVEIONIZATION, LOW RESOLUTION MASS SPECTROMETRY. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/D-90/111.
Description:
Electron impact, high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) iscurrently the method of choice for the analysis of polychlorinateddibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/F) because of its abilityto detect PCDD/F in the presence of interfering compounds, such asPCB, uhich cannot be resolved by low resolution methods. hePCDD/F analyses may also be performed using electron capture,negative ionization (ECNI) low resolution mass spectrometry,providing extensive sample preparation is done to removeinterferences. efore ECNI, low resolution MS can be accepted asa routine method for PCDD/F analysis, it is necessary to show thatresults generated by this method are comparable to those obtainedby HRMS. herefore, ue have analyzed known mixtures and unknounair samples by electron impact HRMS (Finnigan MAT 90 system) and byECNI, low resolution MS (Hewlett Packard 5985B). oth instrumentsuere fitted uith a gas chromatographic inlet. he PCDD/Fconcentrations determined by the two techniques compare favorably,typically uithin 201. he major difference between these tuomethods is that the ECNI, low resolution method shows poorsensitivity in detecting 2, 3,7,8-tetrachlorodioxin. owever, ECNIMS offers the advantage of lower detection limits (50-100 fg) thanelectron impact HRMS (0.1 to 0.5 pg). hese results suggest thatECNI, low resolution MS can be a simple, low cost alternative onmethods used for PCDD/F analysis.