Glass Capillary Gas Chromatography of Chlorinated Dibenzofurans, Chlorinated Anisoles, and Brominated Biphenyls

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Abstract
Halogenated hydrocarbons in the environment and food supply continue to be a source of analytical problems. Glass capillary gas chromatography, (GC)2 provides a solution for some of these problems. The determination of 2.3,7.8-tetrachlorodibenzofuran in monkey feed at the 5 ppb level illustrates the use of (GC)2 in trace analysis. Separation of di- through octachlorodibenzofurans in glass capillary columns coated with thinner liquid phase films (∼ 0.1 micron) than are available commercially (0.2–0.4 μm) has been reported. Comparable analysis time was obtained using short columns (∼ 5–10 m) and hydrogen as carrier gas but with some reduction in efficiency. Chlorophenols are an important group of industrial chemicals that occur as environmental contaminants as the free phenols and also as their methyl ethers (anisoles). Packed columns do not resolve all of the 19 possible chloroanisoles. However. (GC)2 can separate all 19 isomers on a nonpolar phase, C87H176. Packed column and (GC)2 chromatograms of brominated biphenyls show some advantages and limitations of (GC)2. Monobromobiphenyls are easily separated by (GC)2. Decabromobiphenyl is so nonvolatile, however, that very short columns and hydrogen carrier at high linear velocities are required for reasonable analytical times. This technique, however, reduces column efficiency almost to that of a packed column.