New quantification procedure for the analysis of chlorinated paraffins using electron capture negative ionization mass spectrometry

An improved quantification procedure for the analysis of chlorinated paraffins (CPs) is presented based on electron capture negative ionization mass spectrometry. It compensates differences in response factors between reference CP mixtures and the CP pattern present in environmental samples. The use of a CP standard with a matching degree of chlorination is no longer necessary. It could be shown that the response factors of C10-, C11-, C12- and C13-CP mixtures of both 50 and 60% chlorine content were only slightly influenced by the carbon chain length. A linear correlation (R2 = 0.965) between the total response factor of a CP mixture and its chlorine content was obtained for seven short chain chlorinated paraffin mixtures (SCCP, C10-C13) with different composition and chlorine content (51-69%). Maximum single deviations were <7% for this reference set. It allowed to determine the correct total response factor of the CP composition present in a sample. The deviations were not more than 7-33% for five independent SCCP control samples compared to up to 373% for the conventional procedure. The procedure was tested by quantifying the SCCP and MCCP levels in 10 fish liver samples. The proposed method allowed to compensate the influence of the degree of chlorination of the applied reference standard on the total response factor.