Published:Journal of Chromatographic Science,
ISSN 0021-9665Volume
40, Number 5, May/June 2002, pp. 248-253
High-Throughput Capillary Gas Chromatography for the Determination
of Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Fatty Acid Methyl Esters in Food Samples
Pat Sandra[1],[2] and Frank
David[1]
[1]Research Institute for Chromatography, Kennedypark 20, B-8500 Kortrijk, Belgium
and
[2]Department of Chemistry, CENSSUS, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1,
7602 Matieland, South Africa
High-throughput capillary gas chromatography (CGC) methods, developed
during the Belgian 1999 “dioxin” food crisis, for the determination
of the contaminating polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the fatty acid composition
of the lipids are described. For PCB analysis, the fat obtained by ultrasonic
extraction is fractionated by matrix solid-phase dispersion, and the PCBs are
analyzed by CGC–electron capture detection on a 10-mL ¥ 100-µm-i.d.
HP-5MS column. Analytical conditions for the high-speed column are deduced from
analyses on conventional CGC columns using the method translation software.
The concept of retention time locking is implemented to facilitate the elucidation
of the PCB markers. The fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) are prepared by the
sodium methylate procedure on part of the ultrasonic extract followed by analysis
on 10-mL ¥ 100-µm-i.d. HP-WAX or BPX-70 capillary columns. By optimizing
both the sample preparation and CGC analysis, the throughput is more than fifty
PCB and FAME samples per day with the same robustness as conventional methods.
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