Determination of Organic Pollutants in Mollusks

Different environmental compartments often accumulate a wide variety of organic pollutants, mainly from anthropogenic sources. Although these organic contaminants may be present in trace amounts, they adversely affect aquatic organisms, animals, and even humans. The use of aquatic organisms has been designated as a comprehensive target sample because of their widespread exposure to hydrophobic contaminants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs), and musk fragrances. In this context, GC-MS and LC-MS can analyze semi-volatile and volatile organic compounds because of their high selectivity and resolution, good accuracy and precision, wide dynamic concentration range, and high sensitivity. Lifeasible can determine various non-polar or slightly non-polar organic pollutants (PAH, PCB, PBDE, OCP, OPP, and musk fragrance in mollusks). The suitability of GC-MS and GC-MS/MS for multiple screening of such contaminants can also be evaluated prior to the validation of mollusk samples.

Testing for Organic Contaminants in Mollusks

Lifeasible specializes in detecting mollusk organic pollutants through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. It can not only feedback on the decomposition of pollutants by mollusks but also detect the environment to a certain extent.

• Testing steps

• Sample Preparation

For sample preparation, each mollusk is dissected with a clean scalpel blade to separate the soft tissue from the shell. Individuals were dissected, homogenized, and freeze-dried in a Cryodos 50 freeze dryer and stored in amber glass vials at -20 °C in the refrigerator until analysis.

• MSPD extraction and purification

Mix the lyophilized mollusk samples and Florisil dispersion under optimized conditions. A glass syringe with polyethylene glass material in the bottom is filled from bottom to top: de-activated silica, activated silica, and finally, the mixed material. An isotopically labeled substitute is added to the mixed material, and a second glass material is placed on top. Subsequently, the analytes were eluted with DCM, and the eluate obtained was evaporated to dryness using mild N₂.

• GC-MS and LC-MS analysis

The extracts were analyzed by GC-MS or LC-MS.

• Method validation

In the validation step, in addition to GC-MS, LC-MS is considered to improve selectivity and sensitivity.

• Test precision and accuracy

Precision: ≤ 0.2% (precision of measurement is the degree of agreement between the measured values and the closeness to their "true" values, i.e., a combination of precision and correctness).

Accuracy: ≤ 0.3% (accuracy refers to the degree to which the average value of multiple measurements under certain experimental conditions is consistent with the true value).

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