A new fast and effective analysis method has been developed to simultaneously determine 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in reclaimed water samples by ultra-performance convergence chromatography with photodiode array detection and solid-phase extraction. The parameters of ultra-performance convergence chromatography on the separation behaviors and the crucial condition of solid-phase extraction were investigated systematically. Under optimal conditions, the 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons could be separated within 4 min. The limits of detection and quantification were in the range of 0.4–4 and 1–10 μg/L in water, respectively. This approach has been applied to a real industrial wastewater treatment plant successfully. The results showed that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were dramatically decreased after chemical treatment procedure, and the oxidation procedure was effective to remove trace polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Simultaneous determination of bisphenol A, tetrabromobisphenol A, and perfluorooctanoic acid in small household electronics appliances by accelerated solvent extraction-ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was established. Samples, heated for 5 min, were extracted by toluene/methanol (10:1, v/v) under the pressure 1500 psi at 100°C, and were extracted 3 static cycles with 20 min per cycle. And then 15 mL extractant solvent was used to wash the samples, and at last the sample was purged by nitrogen for 100 s. The partial extractant (10 mL) was concentrated by nitrogen and re-dissolved with 1 mL methanol/water (1:1, v/v). The three compounds were separated by BEH C18 column effectively in 3 min and detected by electrospray ionization mode mass spectrometry. The linear ranges for bisphenol A, perfluorooctanoic acid, and tetrabromobisphenol A were 1–100, 10–1000 ng/mL, and 0.1–10 μg/mL, respectively. The correlation coefficient was greater than 0.996. The LOD and limit of quantitation for three compounds were 0.1, 10, 1 ng/mL, and 0.5, 50, 5 ng/mL, respectively. And the recoveries were 84–92, 76–82, and 72–74%, respectively, with RSD < 5%. The method was successfully used in determining the real samples. The method and the result were confirmed by liquid chromatography-ion trap-time of flight mass spectrometry.

A simultaneous method was successfully established and validated for the separation and determination of buprenorphine (BP), its primary metabolite, nor-buprenorphine (NBP) and a proposed co-formulate, naloxone (NLX) in human plasma. The method used buprenorphine-d₄ (BP-D₄), nor-buprenorphine-d₃ (NBP-D₃), naltrexone (NTX) as internal standards (ISs). 100 μL of plasma sample fortified with the ISs was cleaned up by solid-phase extraction (SPE), and was then separated on a Waters Acquity^TM BEH C₁₈ column with gradient elution using methanol and water (containing 0.2% formic) at a flow rate of 0.25 mL·min⁻¹. The mass spectrometer was used for detection and was operated in the positive electrospray ionization with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The three compounds were effectively separated in 5 min. The linear ranges of the compounds were 0.1–25, 0.25–25 and 0.05–25 ng·mL⁻¹ for BP, NBP and NLX, respectively, with r≧0.9935. The method had high sensitivity (the limits of detection were 0.02, 0.1 and 0.01 ng·mL⁻¹ for BP, NBP and NLX, respectively) and high recoveries (≧97.6%). The result was shown to be linear and satisfactorily met current acceptance criteria for validation of bioanalytical method: intra and inter assay precisions within the required limits of ≦25% RSD. The LOQs fulfilled the LOQ requirements: precision≦25% RSD, and was fully validated according to the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) regulations. The results demonstrated that ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometer (UPLC-MS/MS) with SPE was a powerful detection tool and contributed to pharmaceutical analysis in biological matrices.