Ultra-trace quantification method for chlordecone in human fluids and tissues

Chlordecone is an organochlorine pesticide (OCP) considered as a Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP) as it persists in the environment, bio-accumulates through the food web, causes adverse effects to human health and the environment and transports across international boundaries far from its sources. The atypical physico-chemical properties of chlordecone make its inclusion in classical analytical approaches non applicable. The aim of our work was to include chlordecone in a multi organochlorine residue method preventing any degradation during the analytical process and thus allowing quantification at ppt (ng kg−1 or ng L−1) levels for a wide range of OCPs in breast milk, human serum and adipose tissue. After GC-HRMS vs. MS/MS and EI vs. APCI comparisons, the major improvement in terms of sensitivity was found in decreasing the length and film thickness of the gas chromatography column. Thanks to a linear correlation between relative response and quantity of chlordecone injected, LC-(ESI-)-MS/MS was finally preferred. An acetonitrile based gradient optimized on a C30 coreshell HPLC column has led to reaching limits of quantification as low as 8 ng L−1, 25 pg mL−1 and 0.2 ng g−1 fat for breast milk, serum and adipose tissue, respectively, allowing multiresidue OCP quantification at concentration levels compatible with biomonitoring purposes and pre-requisites.