Analysis of microplastics by using Pyrolysis-GC/MS/MS
Introduction
Microplastics (MPs) have been studied internationally due to concern about their impact on marine ecosystems and human health. In general, MPs refers to plastics with a particle size of 5 mm or less. MPs have been analyzed for the type and number of polymers using microscopy and FT-IR. On the other hand, the type and amount of polymers are confirmed in recent years. For confirmation of polymer type and amount, GC/MS measurement coupled with pyrolysis equipment is suitable. It is guessed that polymer components contained in large amounts in environmental samples are confirmed by SCAN measurement, and polymer components contained in trace amounts are confirmed by SIM measurement. However, it has possibility that the SIM measurement is affected by pyrolysis components from polymer components and additive components contained in large amounts. Therefore, there is a concern that quantitative analysis by SIM measurement is difficult. On the other hand, the SRM measurement of GC/MS/MS use a combination of selected precursor ion and generated product ion from its selected precursor ion, so selectivity of detection ion and detection sensitivity will be improved. As a result, the influence of matrix components such as pyrolysis components can be reduced, and it is possible to detect components contained in material sample. In this application note, we report on the measurement result of a model sample of PP with four trace polymers using Pyrolysis-GC/MS/MS.