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DETERMINATION OF INTERFERING TRIAZINE DEGRADATION PRODUCTS BY GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY-ION TRAP MASS SPECTROMETRY
Citation:
Magnuson*, M L., T F. Speth*, AND C A. Kelty*. DETERMINATION OF INTERFERING TRIAZINE DEGRADATION PRODUCTS BY GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY-ION TRAP MASS SPECTROMETRY. JOURNAL OF CHROMATOGRAPHY A. Elsevier Science BV, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 868(1):115-119, (2000).
Description:
Deethyl atrazine (DEA), along with other triazine degradation products, has been added to the US Environmental Protection Agency's Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List (CCL). In its gas chromatographic (GC) analysis, deethyl atrazine, a degradation product of atrazine, can coelute with deisopropyl atrazine (DIA), which is a degradation product of atrazine, simazine, and cyanazine. To increase selectivity, mass spectrometry is often used as the GC detector. For this purpose, ion trap mass spectrometers are popular due to their high full scan sensitivity and lower cost. The present work demonstrates that the coelution of DEA and DIA can induce a significant (up to ~ 50%) positive bias in the DEA determination, when using an ion-trap mass spectrometer. The DIA determination is unaffected by the coelution within experimental error. This may be explained in terms of gas-phase ion fragment populations. A correction factor to the observed DEA concentration may be developed based on the measured DIA concentration. The use of this correction factor allows faster temperature ramps to be used and also may extend the useful lifetime of the column, thereby increasing productivity.