Development of matrix solid-phase dispersion method for the extraction of short-chain chlorinated paraffins in human placenta

Chlorinated paraffins(SCCPs) are widely used worldwide, and they can be released into the environment during their production, transport, usage and disposal, which pose potential risks for human health. In this work, an efficient, reliable and rapid pretreatment method based on matrix solid-phase dispersion(MSPD) was developed for the analysis of short-chain CPs(SCCPs) in human placenta by gas chromatograph-electron capture negative ion low-resolution mass spectrometry(GC-ECNI-LRMS) and gas chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry(GC–QTOF-HRMS). The MSPD-relevant parameters including dispersing sorbent,sample-to-sorbent mass ratio, and elution solvent were optimized using the orthogonal test.Silica gel was found to be the optimal dispersing sorbent among the selected matrices. Under the optimal conditions, 44% acidic silica gel can be used as the co-sorbent to remove lipid and eluted by the mixture of hexane and dichloromethane(7:3, V/V). The spiked recoveries of the optimized method were 77.4% and 91.4% for analyzing SCCPs in human placenta by GC-ECNI-LRMS and GC–QTOF-HRMS, and the corresponding relative standard deviations were10.2% and 5.6%, respectively. The method detection limit for the total SCCPs was 36.8 ng/g(dry weight, dw) and 19.2 ng/g(dw) as measured by GC-ECNI-LRMS and GC–QTOF-HRMS,respectively. The concentrations of SCCPs in four human placentas were in the range of<method detection limit(MDL) to 782 ng/g(dw), which is also the first description of SCCPs detected in placentas.