Identification and quantification of six-ring C₂₆H₁₆ cata-condensed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a complex mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from coal tar.

We applied a combination of normal-phase liquid chromatography (NPLC) with ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC/MS) for the fractionation, identification, and quantification of six ring C26H16 cata-condensed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs, in the Standard Reference Material 1597a, Complex Mixture of PAHs from Coal Tar. For the characterization analysis, we calculated the GC retention indices of 17 C26H16 PAH authentic reference standards using the Rxi-PAH and DB-5 GC columns. Then, we used NPLC with ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy to isolate the fractions containing the C26H16 PAHs, and subsequently, we used GC/MS to establish the identity and quantity of the C26H16 PAHs using authentic reference standards. Following this procedure, 12 C26H16 cata-condensed PAHs benzo[c]pentaphene, dibenzo[f,k]tetraphene, benzo[h]pentaphene, dibenzo[a,l]tetracene, dibenzo[c,k]tetraphene, naphtho[2,3-c]tetraphene, dibenzo[a,c]tetracene, benzo[b]picene, dibenzo[a,j]tetracene, naphtho[2,1-a]tetracene, dibenzo[c,p]chrysene, and dibenzo[a,f]tetraphene were identified and quantified for the first time, and benzo[c]picene was quantified for the first time in an environmental combustion sample.