Brief Summary

• Alkyl substituted naphthalenes are often found in the marine environment following spillages of crude oils, such as that occurring presently (May 2010) in the Gulf of Mexico. Alkylnaphthalenes also dominate oil industry produced waters and are common contaminants within the tissues of marine organisms.
• Alkylnaphthalenes with alkyl substituents >C₄ are only rarely reported, possibly due to the large numbers of isomers possible (e.g. >7000 C₈ isomers are possible), with the consequence that no one isomer dominates. However, given the additive nature of narcotic toxicants, the total burden of these isomers may still be appreciable but overlooked.
• Ourrecent research has demonstrated that alkylated naphthalene isomers can differ in their toxicity therefore it is imperative to develop methods to improve chromatographic separation of isomers.
• In the present study we used GC×GC-ToF-MS to optimise chromatographic conditions for the separation of a range of C₂-C₈ alkylated naphthalene standards.

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