Determination of nerve agent degradation products in environmental samples by liquid chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization

• Published in: Analytica chimica acta Vol. 512; no. 1; pp. 93 - 101
• Main Authors: Liu, Qin, Hu, Xuying, Xie, Jianwei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.06.2004; Elsevier
• Subjects: Alkyl methylphosphonic acids; Analytical chemistry; Chemical warfare agents; Chemistry; Chromatographic methods and physical methods associated with chromatography; Exact sciences and technology; LC–ESI-MS; Other chromatographic methods; Spectrometric and optical methods; Chemical warfare agents; Alkyl methylphosphonic acids; LC–ESI-MS; Water; Collisional activation; LC-ESI-MS; Coupled method; Liquid chromatography; Electrospray; Chemical ionization; Chemical warfare agent; Soils; Time of flight method; Reproducibility; Linearity; Feasibility; Dissociation; Degradation product; Mass spectrometry; Quantitative analysis
• ISSN: 0003-2670; 1873-4324
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2004.02.023

A powerful and rapid method has been developed for the identification and quantitative determination of alkyl methylphosphonic acids, which are the degradation products of nerve agents, using liquid chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization. Six alkyl methylphosphonic acids were well separated within 16 min. For quantitative analysis, good linearity, sensitivity and reproducibility were obtained by LC–MS in the selected ion monitoring mode. For unambiguous identification of alkyl methylphosphonic acids, fragment ions were produced by in-source collision induced dissociation (CID), and then exact mass measurement of CID fragment ions was performed. The feasibility of applying this technique for detecting these compounds in spiked environmental waters and soils was demonstrated.