Pacific and Yukon Laboratory for Environmental Testing, Science and Technology Branch, Pacific Environmental Science Centre, Environment and Climate Change Canada, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Agilent Technologies Inc., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
Anal Methods. 2022 Feb 17;14(7):717-725. doi: 10.1039/d1ay02216d.
Spilled crude oil samples contain various toxic compounds including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as well as sulfur heterocycles (PASHs) and their related alkylated forms (APAHs and APASHs). In this study, a method was successfully developed employing a gas chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight (GC-QToF) mass spectrometer to quantitatively analyze both PAHs/APAHs and PASHs/APASHs in these samples. With GC-QToF, the monoisotopic mass of the compounds is distinguished, allowing the PASHs/APASHs to be extracted separately from the PAHs/APAHs in crude oil. A gas chromatography triple quadrupole (GC-MS/MS) mass spectrometer was also used to confirm that a GC-QToF is the preferred instrument for analyzing these compounds. With the use of PASH/APASH standards to determine response correction factors (RCFs) in relation to PAH standards, the developed method is capable of analyzing PAHs, APAHs, PASHs, and APASHs in a single injection. The use of RCFs allowed for the development of a practical polycyclic aromatic carbon (PAC) method for analyzing a total of 77 compounds of the 2 groups in crude oil. This newly developed method was applied to spilled crude oils, demonstrating its potential in toxicological study as well as oil spill forensic investigation.
溢油样品中含有各种有毒化合物，包括多环芳烃（PAHs）以及含硫杂环化合物（PASHs）及其相关的烷基化形式（APAHs 和 APASHs）。在本研究中，成功开发了一种使用气相色谱四极杆飞行时间（GC-QToF）质谱仪定量分析这些样品中 PAHs/APAHs 和 PASHs/APASHs 的方法。GC-QToF 可以区分化合物的单同位素质量，从而可以将 PASHs/APASHs 从原油中的 PAHs/APAHs 中分别提取出来。还使用气相色谱三重四极杆（GC-MS/MS）质谱仪证实了 GC-QToF 是分析这些化合物的首选仪器。通过使用 PASH/APASH 标准来确定与 PAH 标准相关的响应校正因子（RCF），开发的方法能够在单次进样中分析 PAHs、APAHs、PASHs 和 APASHs。使用 RCF 可以开发出一种实用的多环芳烃碳（PAC）方法，用于分析原油中这 2 组共 77 种化合物。该新方法应用于溢油，展示了其在毒理学研究以及溢油法医调查中的潜力。
