Green determination of brominated flame retardants and organochloride pollutants in fish oils by vortex assisted liquid-liquid microextraction and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

A "green", simple, and low-cost sample extraction procedure involving the use of a deep eutectic solvent (DES) in a vortex assisted liquid-liquid microextraction (VALLME) technique followed by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) analysis was developed for the simultaneous determination of different PBDEs congeners and OCPs residues in fish oils. After evaluation of different eutectic mixtures, the extraction parameters (volume of DES, amount of oil sample and extraction time) were optimized by means of experimental design in order to maximise extraction efficiency. The developed method was validated in terms of linearity, accuracy and precision, presenting limits of detection in the low ng g−1 level. Its application in the analysis of five fish oil samples, allowed the detection of all the target analytes at levels up 21.5 ng g−1. Fish oils used in animal feed showed to be more contaminated than fish oils for human consumption.