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5989 9181EN PAH Analysis
5989 9181EN PAH Analysis
Application
The 16-component PAH standard mix was supplied Benzo[a]pyrene is a PAH of particular interest due
by Agilent (p/n 8500-6035). Acetone used was Bur- to its toxicity. Figure 2 focuses on this specific ana-
dick and Jackson Ultra Resi Grade purchased lyte with an expanded section of the total ion chro-
through VWR International, West Chester, PA matogram from an injection at the lowest standard
19380, USA. The stock PAH solution as delivered level studied. The signal-to-noise ratio indicated
had a nominal concentration of 500 µg/mL. The was greater than 9:1. Scanning mode was used
stock was diluted 1:50 and then serially diluted to exclusively throughout these experiments on an
prepare standard solutions with concentrations of Agilent 5975B MSD equipped with an inert elec-
5, 2, 1, 0.5, 0.1, and 0.05 µg/mL. All solutions were tron impact source.
prepared in acetone using class A volumetric
pipettes and flasks. Linearity was excellent across the range studied,
giving R2 values of 0.995 or greater in all cases.
Figure 3 indicated the correlation coefficients for
each of the individual analytes and shows an exam-
ple linear regression plot for benzo[a]pyrene.
2
Abundance
180000 10
12
8
160000 5 7 9 11
3 13
140000 4
6 15
2 16
120000 1
14
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00 10.00 11.00 12.00 13.00
Time
1. Naphthalene 9. Benz[a]anthracene
2. Acenaphthylene 10. Chrysene
3. Acenaphthene 11. Benzo[b]fluoranthene
4. Fluorene 12. Benzo[k]fluoranthene
5. Phenanthrene 13. Benzo[a]pyrene
6. Anthracene 14. Indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene
7. Fluoranthene 15. Dibenz[a,h]anthracene
8. Pyrene 16. Benzo[g,h,i]perylene
Figure 1. Total ion chromatogram (scanning mode) of a 1-µL injection of the 0.5 µg/mL standard solution
on an Agilent J&W DB-5ms Ultra Inert 30 m x 0.25 mm x 0.25 µm capillary GC column
(p/n 122-5532UI). This injection represents an on-column loading of 0.5 ng per component.
27000
26000
S/N = 9.1 Conclusions
25000
24000
This application successfully demonstrates the use of
23000
Peak Height = 68.5 mm an Agilent J&W DB-5ms Ultra Inert capillary GC
22000 column for trace-level PAHs in a 15-minute analysis.
21000
Linearity was excellent for all 16 PAHs studied, yield-
ing 0.995 or greater R2 values down to a
20000
19000
11.75 11.80 11.85 11.90 11.95 12.00 12.05 12.10 12.15 12.20 This study was done exclusively using scanning mode
on an Agilent 6890/5975B GC/MSD equipped with an
Figure 2. Enlarged section of the total ion chromatogram for a inert electron impact source. The signal-to-noise ratio
1-µL injection of 0.05 µg/mL standard PAH mix. The for a 0.05 ng on-column loading of benzo[a]pyrene
peak in the figure is the benzo[a]pyrene peak, a PAH was greater than 9 to 1 with this system. This result
of particular interest due to its toxicity. This injec- shows clearly the power of using an Agilent J&W DB-
tion represents an on-column loading of 0.05 ng per
5ms Ultra Inert column for trace-level PAH analysis.
component.
Excellent sensitivity was observed for the PAHs in
this study even in scanning mode. Lower limits of
quantification are expected from using either com-
bined SIM/scan or SIM modes, or one of Agilent’s
newest GC/MS offerings, such as the 7890A/5975C
GC/MSD Triple-Axis Detector coupled with an Agi-
lent J&W DB-5ms Ultra Inert GC capillary column.