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• 2 • 800-356-1688
US EPA Method 8270D is one of the GC/MS methods
followed to determine concentrations of semivolatile
organic compounds in solid waste, soil, water, and
air matrices. In a single analysis, environmental lab-
oratories following Method 8270D typically evaluate
100 or more semivolatile organic compounds repre-
senting several classes of compounds of differing
Fast Analysis of Semivolatile Organic Analytes
Using a 0.18mm ID Rtx® -5Sil MS Capillary GC Column
By Katia May, Ph.D., Senior R&D Chemist, and Christopher English, Environmental Innovations Chemist
✔ Improve efficiency by reducing analysis time for 90 compounds to less than 15 minutes.
✔ Low-bleed, high-resolution column is ideal for trace analyses.
✔ 8270 MegaMix™ reference mix includes 76 target compounds, has 18-month shelf life.
chemical properties and reactivity. This complexity
puts stringent demands on the column used to per-
form the analysis. Some polycyclic aromatic hydro-
carbons (PAHs) elute at high temperatures, for
example, so the method requires a column with low
bleed at high temperature. The column also must
exhibit excellent efficiency, to ensure resolution of
Figure 1 78 semivolatile pollutants, plus surrogates and internal standards, separated
in less than 15 min. on a 0.18mm ID Rtx®-5Sil MS column.
1. N-nitrosodimethylamine
2. pyridine
3. 2-fluorophenol (ss)
4. aniline
5. phenol-d6 (ss)
6. phenol
7. bis(2-chloroethyl)ether
8. 2-chlorophenol
9. 1,3-dichlorobenzene
10. 1,4-dichlorobenzene-d4 (is)
11. 1,4-dichlorobenzene
12. 1,2-dichlorobenzene
13. benzyl alcohol
14. bis(2-chloroisopropyl)ether
15. 2-methylphenol
16. N-nitroso-di-n-propylamine
17. hexachloroethane
18a. 4-methylphenol
18b. 3-methylphenol
19. nitrobenzene-d5 (ss)
20. nitrobenzene
21. isophorone
22. 2-nitrophenol
23. 2,4-dimethylphenol
24. bis(2-chloroethoxy)methane
25. 2,4-dichlorophenol
26. benzoic acid
27. 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene
28. naphthalene-d8 (is)
29. naphthalene
30. 4-chloroanaline
31. hexachlorobutadiene
32. 4-chloro-3-methylphenol
33. 2-methylnaphthalene
34. 1-methylnaphthalene
35. hexachlorocyclopentadiene
36. 2,4,6-trichlorophenol
37. 2,4,5-trichlorophenol
38. 2-fluorobiphenyl (ss)
39. 2-chloronaphthalene
40. 2-nitroaniline
41. 1,4-dinitrobenzene
42. dimethylphthalate
43. 1,3-dinitrobenzene
44. acenaphthylene
45. 2,6-dinitrotoluene
46. 1,2-dinitrobenzene
47. acenaphthene-d10 (is)
48. 3-nitroaniline
49. acenaphthene
50. 2,4-dinitrophenol
51. dibenzofuran
52. 4-nitrophenol
53. 2,4-dinitrotoluene
54. 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol
55. 2,3,5,6-tetrachlorophenol
56. diethyl phthalate
57. fluorene
58. 4-chlorophenyl phenyl ether
59. 4-nitroaniline
60. 4,6-dinitro-2-methylphenol
61. diphenylamine2
62. azobenzene1
63. 2,4,6-tribromophenol (ss)
64. 4-bromophenyl phenyl ether
65. hexachlorobenzene
66. pentachlorophenol
67. phenanthrene-d10 (is)
68. phenanthrene
69. anthracene
70. carbazole
71. di-n-butylphthalate
72. fluoranthene
73. benzidine
74. pyrene
75. p-terphenyl-d14 (ss)
76. butyl benzyl phthalate
77. bis(2-ethylhexyl)adipate
78. benzo(a)anthracene
79. chrysene-d12 (is)
80. chrysene
81. bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate
82. di-n-octyl phthalate
83. benzo(b)fluoranthene
84. benzo(k)fluoranthene
85. benzo(a)pyrene
86. perylene-d12 (is)
87. indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene
88. dibenzo(a,h)anthracene
89. benzo(ghi)perylene
11,2-diphenylhydrazine (8270-listed analyte) decomposes to
azobenzene (mix component).
2N-nitrosodiphenylamine (8270-listed analyte) decomposes to
diphenylamine (mix component).
Components of 8270 MegaMix™ indicated in bold.
GC_EV00736
closely eluting compounds with similar mass spec-
tra, including structural isomers. Additionally, cali-
bration mixes of semivolatile compounds must be
combined carefully, to prevent interactions that
could compromise stability.
Rtx®-5Sil MS column performance allows improved
detection limits and increased productivity, and the
column performs exceptionally well in analyses of
semivolatile compounds. Figure 1 shows an analysis
of our 8270 MegaMix™ reference mix of 76 target