Two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole mass spectrometry for the unambiguous determination of atropisomeric polychlorinated biphenyls in environmental samples

Abstract Two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC–GC–MS–MS) is presented as a robust, selective and sensitive method for the accurate quantification of enantiomeric fractions (EFs) of atropisomeric polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in a range of environmental matrices. The method was subjected to a set of quality control and validation experiments. EF precision of the atropisomers 95, 149, 132, and 174 ranged from 0.7 to 1.4% in soil samples. Quantified amounts of these congeners in soil and compost samples (59  n