Chlorinated paraffins (CPs) present themselves as a plethora of constitutional and optical isomers within a wide range of carbon chain lengths and degrees of chlorination. Because of their persistence and believed harmful effects upon exposure to biota and abiota alike, short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) have been listed as candidates of the Stockholm Convention POPs list and are an expected to be added to the list in late 2017.
As there is no consensus on an analytical procedure for SCCPs or medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCPs) in food samples, many different methods with barely comparable results are currently in use. High resolution mass spectrometry in particular has proven to be valuable for in-depth studies of congener patterns and fulfilling regulatory demands in connection to the impending worldwide ban of SCCP production and use.
In this webcast, Kerstin Krätschmer and Cristian Cojocariu will present and discuss the results obtained from the experiments designed to assess the performance of the high resolution accurate mass Thermo Scientific Q Exactive GC Orbitrap GC-MS for the analysis of both SCCP and MCCP in standards and salmon samples. System performance was tested using full scan acquisition and simple instrumental setup.
The experiments were focusing on assessing:
- The linear dynamic range
- Selectivity in matrix
- Sensitivity
- Quantitative performance in relation to sample preparation