LC-GC×GC-ToFMS/FID: a powerful technique for MOSH and MOAH quantification and characterization

Mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOHs) are generally classified into MO saturated (MOSH) and aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH) with different toxicological relevance and analytical challenges. Beside sample preparation, data interpretation and integration represent an important source of uncertainty, evaluated on the order of 20%. The use of GC×GC has been proposed to support the data interpretation but the integration and the reliability of the results using this methodology have never been systematically evaluated. The aim of this work was to investigate the advantages of a novel fully integrated LC-GC×GC-ToFMS/FID platform for the analysis of MOSH and MOAH. Moreover, from a systematic study of the precedent failures of the 2D quantification approach a novel solution was proposed for simplifying and automating the entire process.