Congener specific determination of toxaphene residues in fish liver oil using gas chromatography coupled to ion trap MS/MS

A new approach to the determination of six toxaphene congeners in edible stuff has been accomplished. The analytical procedure presented in this paper involves a single-step cleanup process prior to the analysis. A solution containing three 13C labelled polychlorinated biphenyls was used as internal standard and tetrachloronaphtalene was used as injection standard. The analytical technique used was gas chromatography coupled to ion trap mass spectrometry detector in MS/MS mode. The parameters affecting the successive fragmentations were discussed and optimized. The limits of detection ranged from 2 to 49 pg μl−1. The toxaphene congeners were determined in two different fish liver oil pills sold in Spain as a supplementary vitamin support.