Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) belong to a broad family of synthetic organic compounds known as halogenated hydrocarbons. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) belong to a broad family of synthetic organic compounds known as halogenated hydrocarbons. The method reported here is applicable for the determination of 29 halogenated hydrocarbons (6 PCBs, 16 OCPs, and 7 PBDEs) in fish tissues.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) belong to a broad family of synthetic organic chemicals known as chlorinated hydrocarbons. In the United States, PCBs were produced from 1929 until their manufacture was banned in 1979.Although all 209 of the PCB congeners can be synthesized, only about 130 individual congeners have been identified in commercial PCB mixtures at concentrations ≥ 0.05%. The method reported here is applicable for the determination of 32 of the 209 possible PCB congeners in soils, including the dioxin-like PCB (“non-ortho”,“mono-ortho PCB”, and “di-ortho PCB”).

The Thermo Scientific™ TSQ™ 8000 Evo triple quadrupole GC-MS is an excellent tool for the control of MRL levels in food commodities. The enhanced velocity optics (EVO) driving EvoCell collision cell technology provide high SRM transition speeds, precision, and sensitivity for even complex methods involving several pesticides in a short run time. This application is focused on the analysis of 247 compounds in two different herbal juices, Aloe vera and Amla (Indian gooseberry), demonstrating the potential of the method to detect trace level compounds at concentrations as low as 1-2 ng/g.

Pesticides are widely used in agriculture to protect crops and to improve efficiency of production. Consequently, governments, food producers and food retailers have the duty to ensure that any residues occurring in foods for human consumption are at or below Statutory Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs). Regulation EC 396/2005 adopted in the European Union sets MRLs for more than 500 different pesticides in over 300 different food commodities. We describe a method providing high quality and low level analysis of pesticides in produce samples using the TSQ Quantum XLS Ultra GC-MS/MS system.

The highly sensitive TSQ Duo triple quadrupole mass spectrometer can analyze nitrosamines in EI mode. Using automatic selected reaction monitoring (AutoSRM) software to fully optimize the choice of transitions and collision energies, equivalent detection limits by EPA method can be achieved without using a large volume injection.