A sensitive microextraction by packed sorbent-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method for the assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons contamination in Antarctic surface snow

For the first time an eco-friendly method involving microextraction by packed sorbent (MEPS) coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed for the determination of the 16 US-EPA priority pollutant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as indicators of anthropogenic contamination in snow samples collected in polar regions. MEPS was carried out by using C8 sorbent material packed in a barrel insert and needle (BIN) and integrated in the eVol® semi-automatic device. For optimization purposes a Face Centred Design and the multicriteria method of the desirability functions were performed to investigate the effect of some parameters affecting the MEPS extraction efficiency, i.e. the number of loading cycles and the number of elution cycles. The developed MEPS-GC-MS method proved to be suitable for PAHs analysis at ultra-trace level by extracting small sample volumes achieving detection limits for 16 PAHs in the 0.3–5 ng L−1 range, repeatability and intermediate precision below 11% and 15%, respectively, and good recovery rates in the 77.6 (±0.1)–120.8 (±0.1)% range for spiked blank snow samples. Enrichment factors in the 64 (±7)–129 (±18) range were calculated. Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of PAHs in surface snow samples collected in 2020–2021 from four locations of Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Local emission sources such as ships and research stations were found to influence PAHs concentrations in the surface snow.