Simplified analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in daily diet with Sep-Pak silica cartridge.

A simplified method with Sep-Pak silica cartridge (Waters Associates) for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (i.e. anthracene (An), pyrene (Py), benzo[a]anthracene (B[a]A), benzo[b]fluoranthene (B[b]F), benzo[k]fluoranthene (B[k]F), benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), benzo[g, h, i]perylene (B[g, h, i]P) in daily diet has been developed. The method consists of alkali digestion with sodium sulfide as an antioxidant, extraction with n-hexane, clean-up with Sep-Pak silica cartridge, determination with high-performance liquid chromatography. Recoveries (%) and coefficientsof variation (C.V.%) of 7 PAHs (50 ng-200 ng) added to 50 g of homogenized daily dist were 90.2% (An)-102.7% (Py) and 2.97% (B[a]A)-7.56% (B[a]P), respectively.