Feasibility of supercritical fluid extraction-supercritical fluid chromatography mass spectrometry for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in particulate matter samples

There has been an increased interest in the development of green analytical methods for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in environmental samples due to their toxicity and ubiquitous nature. In this work, the feasibility of on-line supercritical fluid extraction-supercritical fluid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was investigated for rapid and automated determination of the 16 United States Environmental Protection Agency priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in particulate matter samples. Three specialty polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons columns with different stationary phases were screened and an octadecyl-silica column was selected for method development. Enhanced extraction efficiency was achieved using an extraction program with gradient flow rate and gradient concentration of acetonitrile as a modifier. The method was evaluated by analyzing standard reference materials of urban dust and diesel particulate matter from the National Institute of Standards and Technologies. Possible reasons for the unsatisfactory recoveries with certain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are discussed.