Better screening of non-target pollutants in complex samples using advanced chromatographic and mass spectrometric techn
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Better screening of non‑target pollutants in complex samples using advanced chromatographic and mass spectrometric techniques Albert T. Lebedev1 · Dmitrii M. Mazur1 · Viatcheslav B. Artaev2 · Georgy Y. Tikhonov2 Received: 10 February 2020 / Accepted: 11 June 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract The number of priority and emerging contaminants nowadays exceeds several thousands. As a consequence, it is a daunting task to monitor thousands of compounds using classical gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Preliminary non-targeted screening is thus usually performed to identify the most relevant contaminants. Here we analyzed complex environmental samples of snow, rain water and cloud water from the Arctic, France, Chile, and Russia by two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC) with ionization methods including electron ionization (EI), positive chemical ionization (PCI), and electron capture negative ionization (ECNI) modes, combined with high-resolution mass spectrometry. This approach combines the separation capacity of GC × GC, detailed EI mass spectral libraries, the softness of PCI, and the selectivity of ECNI. Switching between ionization modes without any hardware change allowed to increase the information capacity and reliability of analysis. The structural elucidation becomes easier and more reliable due to the detection of molecular ions in PCI and ECNI modes with corresponding extensive fragmentation in EI, while the ECNI mode improves about 100 times the detection limits for environmentally relevant halogenated and nitro compounds. Overall, a notable enhancement of the analytical capabilities for both targeted and non-targeted purposes is achieved. Keywords Mass spectrometry · GC–HRMS · Environmental analysis · Chemical ionization · Non-targeted analysis · Electron capture negative ionization
Introduction Mass spectrometry is the most sensitive and comprehensive analytical technique used in environmental analysis (Lebedev 2013). The majority of the analytes of environmental interest are volatile or semi-volatile compounds; therefore, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) is the most widely used mass spectrometry-based technique in environmental studies (Lebedev 2012; Dsikowitzky and Schwarzbauer 2014; Heim et al. 2004; Novaković et al. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-020-01037-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Albert T. Lebedev [email protected] 1
Organic Chemistry Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie gory 1/3, Moscow, Russia 119991
LECO Corporation, 3000 Lakeview Avenue, St. Joseph, MI, USA
2
2012). It is well known that performing comprehensive environmental analysis is a challenging task. The number of known priority pollutants and emerging contaminants of environmental concern is currently exceeded several thousand (US EPA Part 423; US EPA Part 401). This list grows every day as new pollutants enter the
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