Selection of chlorinated biphenyl congeners for analysis in environmental samples

A discussion is presented on the extent to which accurate analyses are feasible for the set of six PCB congeners (covering a wide range of chlorine numbers) which have been selected for analysis in various national and international programmes. Application of multidimensional GC techniques shows that some of these cannot always be separated adequately from other compounds on a single GC column (SE-54 or other). Suggestions are presented for the selection of other sets of congeners, also covering a wide range of chlorine numbers and in addition, satisfy the condition of good GC separation and can thus be analysed accurately with a single SE-54 capillary column. It is suggested that the analysis of toxic PCBs may be a more significant approach at least in an ecological sense. Some of the toxic congeners can be analysed on SE-54; multidimensional GC-ECD techniques allow accurate analyses of all of them.