PMID- 32987312 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20211124 LR - 20211124 IS - 1873-3778 (Electronic) IS - 0021-9673 (Linking) VI - 1631 DP - 2020 Nov 8 TI - A simplified screening method for short- and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins in food by gas chromatography-low resolution mass spectrometry. PG - 461574 LID - S0021-9673(20)30849-9 [pii] LID - 10.1016/j.chroma.2020.461574 [doi] AB - This study evaluates the performance of a simplified screening method for short- and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs and MCCPs, respectively) based on gas chromatography-electron capture negative ionization/mass spectrometry (GC-ECNI/MS) analysis and chlorine content quantification. The response from different combinations of 'indicator' congener groups present in technical mixture standards were used within calibration calculations to test the hypothesis that summation operatorSCCPs and summation operatorMCCPs could be quantified with acceptable accuracy using only a subset of the commonly analysed C(10) to C(17) and Cl(5) to Cl(10) groups. Potential combinations were assessed with respect to calibration curve performance and accuracy of SCCP and MCCP analysis of spiked food samples (olive oil, salmon, pork sausage, breakfast cereal, cow's milk and lard). Based on these trials, a screening method which quantifies summation operatorSCCPs and summation operatorMCCPs using only congener groups with 6 and 8 chlorine atoms for each carbon chain length was proposed. Concentrations of SCCPs and MCCPs in triplicate analyses of spiked food samples calculated using the proposed screening method deviated by