Optimization of the dopant for the trace determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by liquid chromatography/dopant-assisted atmospheric-pressure photoionization/mass spectrometry

The composition of the dopant for the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by liquid chromatography/dopant-assisted atmospheric-pressure photoionization/mass spectrometry under reversed-phase conditions was optimized to enhance the ionization efficiency for PAHs. The most suitable dopant was a toluene/anisole mixture (99.5:0.5, v/v) and it could improve limit of detections (LODs) to 0.79–168 ng mL−1 (signal-to-noise (S/N) = 3) for 16 common PAHs. The LODs are 3.8–40 times lower than those obtained with toluene alone and are comparable to those obtained using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.