Determination of organochlorinated compounds in marine organisms by microwave-assisted extraction with molecular organized systems and liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

Microwave-assisted extraction methodology is used to extract different compounds from various kinds of marine solid samples, such as soils, sediments, and organisms. A new analytical method was developed to extract polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated dibenzofurans by using a conventional microwave system and the nonionic surfactant, polyoxyethylene 10 lauryl ether as the extractant as a prior step to liquid chromatography analysis coupled with fluorescence detection. The method was applied to the extraction and determination of these analytes in samples of blue mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis), cockles (Cerastoderma edule), and clams (Dosinia exoleta). Compared with the traditional Soxhlet extraction, results of the proposed method showed acceptable recovery percentages for the organochlorinated compounds under study and standard deviation values <10%.