Abstract
Mass spectrometry is a powerful tool for the analysis of organic pollutants in the environment. Nevertheless, sample preparation for GC/MS analysis is often criticized for being too laborious and requiring expensive equipment. Thus, purge-and-trap or headspace devices are the most popular nowadays to investigate volatile organic pollutants. At the same time, modern commercial high-resolution mass spectrometers allow for the significant simplification of the sample preparation procedures due to better acquisition rate, accurate mass measurements, and improved sensitivity. Here, we used a time-of-flight high-resolution mass spectrometer Pegasus GC-HRT (LECO, USA) to identify and quantify 47 volatile priority organic pollutants in water. The developed accelerated water sample preparation approach requires just 1 mL of water and 1 mL of dichloromethane. The detection limits of the analytes are about 1 μg L−1, while the quantification limits are approximately 5 μg L−1. These limits correspond to those required by Method 8260C of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Here, we demonstrate that sample preparation for the reliable and sensitive GC/MS analysis of volatile organic priority pollutants may be achieved in 5 min in 5-mL vials in the field or just prior to GC/MS analysis in the laboratory without the use of any expensive equipment.
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Polyakova, O.V., Mazur, D.M., Artaev, V.B. et al. Rapid liquid–liquid extraction for the reliable GC/MS analysis of volatile priority pollutants. Environ Chem Lett 14, 251–257 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-015-0544-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-015-0544-0