polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites
urine samples
microextraction by packed sorbent
gas chromatography–mass spectrometry
underivatized analytes
[EN]A fast methodology for the determination of monohydroxy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
in human urine using a fully automated microextraction by packed sorbent coupled to a
gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer is reported. Sample preparation requires simple hydrolysis,
centrifugation, filtration, and dilution. The method does not require a derivatization step prior to
analysis with gas chromatography and allows the measurement of up to three samples per hour after
hydrolysis. Quantitation is carried out by a one-point standard addition allowing the determination
of 6 analytes with good limits of detection (10.1–39.6 ng L1 in water and 0.5–19.4 g L1 in urine),
accuracy (88–110%) and precision (2.1–23.4% in water and 5.1–19.0% in urine) values. This method
has been successfully applied to the analysis of six urine samples (three from smoker and three
from non-smoker subjects), finding significant differences between both types of samples. Results
were similar to those found in the literature for similar samples, which proves the applicability of
the methodology.
