Fast Separation of EU and US EPA Regulated PAHs on Agilent J&W Select PAH GC Columns

Importance of the Topic

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are persistent environmental and food contaminants with known carcinogenic properties. Regulatory bodies in the EU and the US EPA require precise monitoring of priority PAHs to ensure public health and food safety. High speed and high resolution chromatographic methods are essential for compliance and routine analysis.

Goals and Overview

This application demonstrates a rapid GC/MS method for separation and quantitation of 54 EU and US EPA regulated PAHs in a single run under 30 minutes. The approach employs a short high efficiency capillary GC column and an optimized oven temperature program to balance throughput and resolution.

Methodology and Instrumentation

• Column Select PAH GC column 15 m x 0.15 mm id x 0.10 µm film
• Carrier gas Helium at constant flow 1.2 mL per min
• Oven program 70 °C hold 0.4 min then 70 °C per min to 180 °C then 7 °C per min to 230 °C hold 7 min then 50 °C per min to 280 °C hold 7 min then 30 °C per min to 350 °C hold 4 min
• Injection 1 µL in splitless mode with 0.5 min purge at 100 mL per min
• Mass spectrometer Triple quadrupole in SIM mode, ion source at 275 °C, transfer line at 300 °C
• Sample concentration Approximately 0.1 to 0.3 µg per mL

Main Results and Discussion

The optimized method resolved all target PAHs including challenging isomer groups with identical masses. Key difficult to separate sets such as m/z 226 and 228 isomers benz[a]anthracene cyclopenta[c,d]pyrene chrysene and triphenylene and m/z 276 278 indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene dibenz[a,h]anthracene and related isomers achieved baseline separation. The short column coupled with a rapid oven gradient yielded high resolution without extending run time beyond 29 minutes.

Benefits and Practical Applications

• High throughput analysis for environmental monitoring and food safety labs
• Comprehensive resolution of EU and EPA priority PAHs in one rapid run
• Robust performance with minimal method development time
• Supports regulatory compliance and quality assurance in industrial and research settings

Future Trends and Potential Applications

Emerging developments may include ultrafast GC columns and two dimensional GC for even more complex mixtures, integration with high resolution mass spectrometry for enhanced selectivity, and automated sample preparation workflows. The method framework can be adapted to novel PAH markers and diverse sample matrices in environmental toxicology and food safety.

Conclusion

The Agilent J W Select PAH column combined with an optimized oven program enables rapid high resolution separation of 54 regulated PAHs in under 30 minutes. This streamlined method enhances laboratory productivity and ensures reliable compliance with EU and US EPA requirements.

References

• Anon 2005 Report Joint FAO WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives Sixty fourth meeting Rome February 2005
• Bordajandi LR et al 2008 Optimisation of GC MS conditions for determination of the fifteen EU foodstuff priority PAHs J Sep Sci 31 1769-1778
• Lerda D 2009 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons PAHs Factsheet European Commission Joint Research Centre
• Ziegenhals K et al 2008 Fast GC HRMS to quantify the EU priority PAH J Sep Sci 31 1779-1786
• Poster DL et al 2006 Analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in environmental samples Anal Bioanal Chem 386 859-881