Simple pretreatment procedure combined with gas chromatography/multiphoton ionization/mass spectrometry for the analysis of dioxins in soil samples obtained after the Tōhoku earthquake.

A simple pretreatment procedure was developed for the analysis of dioxins in soil samples using gas chromatography/multiphoton ionization/time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The sample was subjected to a pressurized liquid extraction procedure, followed by separation using a pair of Sulfoxide and Ag-ION columns for cleanup. Due to the high selectivity of laser ionization, the procedure was simplified and the time required for an analysis was decreased to 3 h. The sample collected after the earthquake and tsunami contained relatively high concentrations of PCBs and PCDD/Fs. This simple and rapid pretreatment procedure can be useful for monitoring the environment to prevent unexpected exposure of toxic dioxins for the workers who have to process more than 20 million tons of the wastes in a few years.