Multiresidue screening by negative chemical ionization mass spectrometry of organic polychlorides

A multiresidue procedure, based on negative chemical ionization (NCI) mass spectrometry, for analyzing organochlorine residues in environmental substrates is described. The procedure is capable of routinely detecting about 1 ng unknown organochlorine residues. Semi-quantitative data (order of magnitude) may be obtained for pentachlorophenol and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid residues by calibration with internal p-chlorobenzophenone. Lipid-rich substrates were resolved into acidic and neutral fractions, and both fractions were further purified by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) prior to NCI analysis. In spite of the fact that recoveries were often low, the overall sensitivity for residues in lipid-rich substrates appeared to be higher than when the GPC step was omitted.