Analysis of chlorinated organic compounds in estuarine biota and sediments by chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry

Complex sample matrices of estuarine biota tissue and bed sediment extracts were analyzed for selected chlorinated compounds. By using gas chromatography/positive chemical ionization/tandem mass spectrometry, the coeluting interferences present in gas chromatography/electron ionization mass spectrometry were eliminated in the biota tissue and bed sediment extracts. The selected chlorinated compounds included chlorobenzene; 1,2‐, 1,3‐ and 1,4‐dichlorobenzene; 1,2,3‐, 1,2,4‐ and 1,3,5‐trichlorobenzene; 1,2,3,4‐, 1,2,3,5‐ and 1,2,4,5‐tetrachlorobenzene; pentachlorobenzene; hexachlorobenzene; hexachloro‐1,3‐butadiene; octachlorostyrene; and octachloronaphthalene. Daughter ion spectra for these compounds are included. The detection limit for most of the compounds was 20 pg, and the instrument response was linear over five orders of magnitude, by using ¹³C‐labelled hexachlorobenzene as the internal standard.