Abstract

The method for analyzing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in sunflower oil was developed by GC-MS employing a modified QuEChERS sample preparation technique. The method for determination of PCBs (PCB 28, PCB 52, PCB 101, PCB 138, PCB 153, and PCB 180) in sunflower oil was validated according to the following criteria: selectivity, linearity, limits of detection (LOD), limits of quantification (LOQ), accuracy, and precision. For extraction of PCBs from sunflower oil, we suggested a solvent mixture consisting of acetonitrile, hexane, and dichloromethane in a ratio of 100:20:20 for the initial stage of the modified QuEChERS sample preparation. The findings from the study on the method's selectivity indicated that the assessment of PCB content in sunflower oil remains unaffected by the presence of other components within the sample. It was found that the correlation coefficients for six PCBs range from 0.995 to 0.998 (R²> 0.995). The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) of the PCBs are below the maximum permitted levels set by the European Union (EU). Percent recovery in the range from 81 to 102% indicates the acceptability (R, 80–120 %) of the PCBs extraction procedure using modified QuEChERS sample preparation. The relative standard deviation (RSD, %) of the measurement results under conditions of repeatability ranged from 2.2 to 11.5 % (RSD ≥ 15%). The data obtained from the method validation assessment (validation) comply with the European Commission Regulation (EU) № 589/2014 criteria.

Keywords: validation, PCBs, sunflower oil, QuEChERS, GC-MS

Article language: Ukr.