Fast simultaneous determination of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene and 3-hydroxybenzo[a]pyrene by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

A fast analysis method using liquid chromatography–atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry was developed for the simultaneous determination of the 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) and 3-hydroxybenzo[a]pyrene (3-OHBaP) in urine. Mass transitions were monitored at m/z 219.3–200.0 for 1-OHP and m/z 269.2–252.2 for 3-OHBaP. Only 10 min was needed for the analysis. The recovery was 60% for 3-OHBaP and 91% for 1-OHP, respectively. And the method detection limits were 0.49 μg/L for 1-OHP and 1.03 μg/L for 3-OHBaP. The inter- and intra-day relative standard deviations were in the range of 2.8–8.9% for 1-OHP and 9.7–20.8% for 3-OHBaP, respectively. The developed method was successfully used to measure urinary PAH metabolites of student volunteers in a high school.