Determination of 16 kinds of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in spicy strip by QuEChERS gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to effectively improve the risk warning and quality and safety supervision of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in spicy strip. Methods: The target compounds in the samples were extracted with acetonitrile and purified by QuEChERS, containing 100 mg N-propyl ethylenediamine (PSA), 100 mg octadecylsilane bonded silica gel (C18), and 1 000 mg neutral alumina adsorbent, and then were separated by DB-EUPAH column. It was detected by gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometer with multiple reaction monitoring mode and matrix matching external standard method. Results: The 16 kinds of PAHs showed good linearity in the range of 0.005~0.500 μg/mL, and the correlation coefficients were 0.998 4~0.999 9. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.04~0.55 μg/kg and 0.12~1.85 μg/kg, respectively. The average recoveries of 16 kinds of PAHs were 71.54%~103.70% with the relative standard deviations of 2.4%~9.3% at three-level spiked standard sample of 10, 20 and 100 μg/kg. The method was used to analyze the contamination of 16 kinds of PAHs in 20 batches of spicy strip. PAHs were detected in 14 batches with the content ranging from 0.42 μg/kg to 42.28 μg/kg. Conclusion: The method is easy to operate with high sensitivity, and suitable for daily detection of 16 kinds of PAHs in spicy strip.

Keywords

• quechers
• gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry
• spicy strip
• polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons