This application note illustrates the successful use of an Agilent J&W FactorFour VF-17ms column from Agilent Technologies, Inc. for the fast GC/MS analysis of most PAHs listed in the EU and EPA regulations.
The document illustrates a successful method for analyzing 23 priority PAHs listed in European Union regulations, which differ slightly from the 16 compounds covered under US EPA regulations. Due to the toxicity of these compounds and identical mass fragmentation patterns among isomers, effective chromatographic separation is critical.
The analysis utilizes an Agilent J&W FactorFour VF-17ms column with a specific temperature program optimized for speed without compromising resolution. The method achieves baseline separation of difficult peak pairs within approximately 25 minutes using helium as the carrier gas and a quadrupole mass spectrometer detector.
The analysis delivers results within 25 minutes without compromising resolution efficiency.
The sample concentration for the analysis was set to 5 ppm.
Agilent recommends using a J&W FactorFour VF-17ms column for this analysis.