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INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE GC/MS DECOMPOSITION OF TRIBROMONITROMETHANE IN DRINKING WATER DISINFECTION BY-PRODUCT ANALYSIS
Citation:
Chen, P H., S D. Richardson, A D. Thruston Jr., AND S. W. Krasner. INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE GC/MS DECOMPOSITION OF TRIBROMONITROMETHANE IN DRINKING WATER DISINFECTION BY-PRODUCT ANALYSIS. Presented at 47th American Society for Mass Spectrometry Conference, Dallas, TX, June 13-17, 1999.
Description:
Tribromonitromethane (bromopicrin) has been found to be a disinfection by-product (DBP) in
chlorinated1 and ozonated2 drinking water, and is structurally similar to dibromonitromethane,
which has been indicated through structural analysis to be a possible carcinogen. Bromopicrin is thermally labile and decomposes at commonly applied GC injection port temperature (250?C).
Thermolysis of bromopicrin generates ?CBr3, ?CBr2NO2, ?NO2, and Br? radicals which can
undergo reactions with the solvent or combine with other radicals to form reaction products in
the GC injection port. Bromopicrin contains no hydrogen, but its mass spectrum shows peculiar
[fragment + 1]+ ions for the fragment ions CBr2+, Br+, CBr+, and CNOBr+. The objectives of this investigation are (1) to identify the reaction products in several commonly used solvents, (2) to study the impact of thermal stability of bromopicrin and its decomposition products on drinking water analyses, and (3) to study the peculiar [fragment +1]+ ion phenomena.