Abstract: An analytical method was established for the determination of trace levels of hexabromobiphenyls (HexaBBs) in aquatic products by gas chromatography (GC) and the accumulation characteristics of HexaBBs in different aquatic products were analyzed. Important operating parameters were optimized, including extraction solvents, ultrasonic treatment time, types of solid-phase extraction (SPE) column and types of capillary column. Satisfactory results were achieved when the sample was ultrasonically extracted with ethyl acetate for 10 minutes, purified on a silica gel SPE cartridge, and detected by GC with an DB-17MS column. The linearity of the calibration curves for five HexaBBs was good in the range of 0.20–10.00 ng/mL, with correlation coefficients R2 greater than 0.998. The limits of detection and quantification of the proposed method were 0.50 and 1.00 μg/kg, respectively. The recoveries ranged from 77.15% to 118.14%, with relative standard deviations (RSD) in the range of 0.56%–13.32% at spiked levels of 1.00 and 5.00 μg/kg. This method could be used for the quantitative analysis of HexaBB residues in aquatic products, and the accumulation characteristics of HexaBBs in aquatic products from different trophic levels were found to be different from each other.

Key words: aquatic products; hexabromobiphenyls; analysis; gas chromatography; difference in accumulation characteristics