Feasibility of electron impact and electron capture negative ionisation mass spectrometry for the trace determination of tri- to deca-brominated diphenyl ethers in human samples

The applicability of two different MS ionisation modes (EI and ECNI) for the determination of PBDEs at low-trace levels in small-size (up to 1 mL) human samples was compared. The instrumental precision, expressed as R.S.D., obtained for both ionisation modes was similar and lower than 6% (repeatability) and 12% (intermediate precision) for all congeners investigated, except PBDE 209. The LODs obtained when using the ECNI-MS operation mode (6–507 fg) were lower than those found in EI-MS experiments (9 and 10,909 fg), mainly for those congeners with a high bromination degree, i.e., hepta- to deca-BDEs. The selectivity of the ECNI-MS method proposed in the present work was improved by using two ions of the [M−HxBry]− cluster as both qualifier and quantifier ions. For the final validation of the methods, serum and breast milk samples from two different inter-laboratory exercises were analysed. A good agreement was found between the results obtained using the proposed methods and the results provided by the different inter-laboratory organisations, but only ECNI-MS provided the low-LODs necessary for the quantification of high brominated congeners (mainly, PBDEs 196, 197 and 209) at low concentration levels in small-size human samples. Finally, the ECNI-MS method was applied to real-life samples obtained from the Spanish population and the preliminary results obtained were in the same range as those found in other European and Asian regions and lower than the concentrations reported in USA populations.