Simultaneous Determination of 12 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Metabolites in Human Urine by UPIC-Ms/Ms

Objective To develope an ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method for simultaneous determination of 12 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) metabolites in human urine.

Methods The human urine samples were hydrolyzed by β-glucuronidase, purified by a C₁₈ solid-phase extraction column, concentrated by nitrogen, and dissolved by methanol-water (40:60, v/v), and then the samples were separated by a WATERS ACQUITY^® BEH C₁₈ column (2.1 mm×100 mm, 1.7 μm) with a mobile phase of methanol-water for gradient elution, and electrospray ionization was used to measure the content of 12 PAH metabolites.

Results The PAH metabolites in human urine samples showed a good linear relationship within the concentration range of (0.002 5~5) ng/mL, with a correlation coefficient of > 0.99, and the detection limit was (0.001~0.1) ng/mL. The average recoveries of PAH metabolites in low (0.04 ng/mL), medium (0.40 ng/mL), and high (2.00 ng/mL) were above 90%, with good precision (relative standard deviation < 10%).

Conclusion This method has high sensitivity, high recovery, and good precision and can be used for the simultaneous determination of 12 PAH metabolites in human urine.