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Measurement of Nitrogen Mustard Degredation Products by Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Microchip Electrophoresis with Contactless Conductivity Detection
Citation:
Ding, Y. AND K. R. ROGERS. Measurement of Nitrogen Mustard Degredation Products by Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Microchip Electrophoresis with Contactless Conductivity Detection. ELECTROANALYSIS. Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim, Germany, 20(20):2192-2198, (2008).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD′s research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA′s strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools are improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
The potential risk of human exposure from an accidental or intentional release of CWAs into a civilian population continues to drive the need for screening and monitoring techniques for these compounds. In particular, rapid and reliable methods for detecting CWAs such as the nitrogen mustards and their degradation products are important for cleanup and remediation of potentially contaminated sites. Microchip-based separation and detection methods have attracted increased interest over the last decade. The most frequently used methods for the unambiguous detection of nitrogen mustards and their break-down products have been gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) or liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Due to the polarity and water solubility of the nitrogen mustards, GC-MS requires the use of derivitization prior to analysis. In addition, the presence of extraneous materials in environmental samples may interfere with the derivitization process resulting in low recoveries. Although both of these methods have been well characterized for these compounds, they require high-cost and high maintenance instrumentation, a qualified technician and are typically limited to off-site analysis.