Investigation of background contribution from different solvent brands used for sample preparation and analysis of persistent organic pollutants

Abstract

In the times of pandemic, we experienced problems with supply bottlenecks for the solvents normally used for extraction and analysis of persistent organic pollutants (POPs; i.e. PCBs, PBDEs and organochlorine pesticides) in our laboratory and, considered to start using solvents from another producer alternatively. Since we analyze POPs at very low concentration levels and other consumables are background tested before use, it was decided to investigate solvents from different brands as applied for sample preparation of POPs in our in-house method. Solvents were tested as they were aliquoted out of the bottle together with upconcentrated solvent samples. For the upconcentrated samples the same amount of solvent was used as in the in-house method for extraction of POPs in human serum and plasma samples. The solvents investigated were n-hexane, isooctane, dichloromethane (DCM) and acetone.