Development and validation of a gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method for analyzing the polycyclic...

The growing global release of microplastics into the aquatic environment is becoming an increasingly urgent safety issue. Microplastics have attracted attention for their ability to adsorb persistent organic pollutants and transport them through the food chain, thereby affecting both aquatic organisms and humans. Accurate assessment of marine environmental pollution by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) requires the development and validation of standard analytical methods. In this study, we used QuEChERS technique by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to study PAHs in microplastics from seawater. The extraction protocol has been optimized to determine the optimal solvent, the volume of the extractant, and the extraction time. Sixteen priority PAHs were analyzed. Detection limits ranged from 0.1 to 0.8 ng g^-1, and the recovery ranged from 81.23% ± 6.1% to 102.3% ± 6.4%. The concentration of ∑16PAHs at all sampling sites ranged from 85.7 to 3166.1 ng g^-1 in MPs from seawater. The results indicate that pyrogenic sources are responsible for PAHs.The developed method can be recommended as a standard tool for accurate, precise PAH analysis, with significant environmental implications.