A Study of Headspace Solid‐Phase Microextraction in the Analysis of 54 Hydrophobic Pollutants in Remote Alpine Lake Waters with an Emphasis on Analyte Recovery and Storage Time.

This article focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of commercially available headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) fibers for detecting ultratrace levels of chlorinated pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in remote alpine lake waters. The study reveals that analyte recovery using HS-SPME is inconsistent across concentrations ranging from parts per quadrillion to parts per billion and varies by compound, with recovery decreasing notably over storage time due to sorption to sample containers. Analyzing water samples from remote alpine lakes in the US Pacific Northwest, the authors identified several chlorinated pollutants at concentrations comparable to global remote sites but caution that previous studies may have underestimated concentrations by up to two orders of magnitude due to uncorrected recovery losses. The findings underscore the necessity of accounting for concentration-dependent recovery and storage effects in HS-SPME analyses to ensure accurate environmental monitoring of persistent organic pollutants.