Analysis of Pentachlorophenol and Other Chlorinated Phenols in Biological Samples by Gas Chromatography or Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Gas chromatographic (GC) and liquid chromatographic (LC)-mass spectrometric (MS) methods have been described to analyze pentachlorophenol and other chlorinated phenols in biological samples. After addition of internal standard (ISTD), the samples are hydrolyzed with sulfuric acid to release free phenols. The mixtures are extracted using liquid-liquid extraction or solid-phase extraction, including solid-phase microextraction. The resulting samples are injected onto GC-MS or LC-MS for analysis. Selected ion monitoring with a mass spectrometer is used to detect chlorinated phenols. The linearity is obtained in a wide range, from 0.1 to 100 ng/mL, with limit of detection at low nanograms/milliliter for the GC-MS method. The LC-MS technique in negative ion detection provides good linearity and reproducibility for chlorinated phenols using atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) ion sources. However, detection limits for the LC-MS method are higher than for the GC-MS method.