Proposal of a procedure for the analysis of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in mosses

• Improving classic methods for moss analysis in agreement with the green chemistry.
• Soft extraction conditions are necessary to reduce coextraction of pigments.
• Clean up step is critical to obtain good results.
• The procedure is suitable for the analysis of PAHs in different moss species.

A useful analytical procedure for the analysis of 19 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in moss samples using microwave assisted extraction and programmed temperature vaporization-gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (PTV-GC–MS/MS) determination is proposed. The state of art in PAHs analysis in mosses was reviewed. All the steps of the analysis were optimized regarding not only to the analytical parameters, but also the cost, the total time of analysis and the labour. The method was validated for one moss species used as moss monitor in ambient air, obtaining high recoveries (between 83–108%), low quantitation limits (lower than 2 ng g−1), good intermediate precision (relative standard deviation lower than 10%), uncertainties lower than 20%. Finally, the method was checked for other species, demonstrating its suitability for the analysis of different moss species. For this reason the proposed method can be helpful in air biomonitoring studies.

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