Assisted solvent extraction and ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of polychlorinated biphenyls in mussels. Comparison with other extraction techniques.

A selective and sensitive analytical method for determination of ten congeners of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs 31, 28, 52, 101, 118, 153, 105, 138, 156, and 180) in mussel samples (Mytilus galloprovincialis) based on accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS-MS) is presented in this work. Extraction conditions were optimised using a Plackett-Burman factorial design. The final extracts were analysed after cleanup on alumina columns. The optimised extraction parameters were solvent percentage, sample amount, extraction temperature, pressure, static extraction time, flush percentage, and purge time. The results suggest that PCBs 118, 105, and 180 extractions appeared affected by only one statistically significant factor, pressure, solvent percentage and static extraction time, respectively. Extraction of PCBs 138 and 156 was affected by amount of sample. PCB 138 extraction was also statistically affected by static extraction time and purge time. Quantitative recoveries (64.8-120.3%) were achieved for all PCBs and method precision (RSD < 19%) was satisfactory.