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MASS SPECTROMETRY IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Citation:
Richardson, S D. MASS SPECTROMETRY IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES. CHEMICAL REVIEWS 101(2):211-254, (2001).
Impact/Purpose:
(1) Use toxicity-based approach to identify DBPs that show the greatest toxic response. (2) Comprehensively identify DBPs formed by different disinfectant regimes for the 'Four Lab Study'. (3) Determine the mechanisms of formation for potentially hazardous bromonitromethane DBPs.
Description:
This review covers applications of mass spectrometry to the environmental sciences. From the early applications of mass spectrometry to environmental research in the 1960s and 1970s, mass spectrometry has played an important role in aiding our understanding of environmental pollution and processes. Due to the tremendous amount of environmental research in the literature, this review must by necessity be selective. A brief historical perspective on the early impacts of mass spectrometry on environmental research will be presented, with the remainder of the review focusing mainly on the last 8-10 years of environmental research. Numerous papers and abstracts were consulted before choosing selected ones to present here. The organization of this review is somewhat different from most reviews that cover a shorter period of time. Air analyses are grouped together, and biological samples are grouped together, but because many of the same types of analytical methods were used for the measurement of pollutantsin different media (e.g., drinking water, surface waters, groundwater, wastewater, and soils), those pollutants are organized into compound classes. For example, pesticide papers will be grouped together, and dioxin papers are grouped together. It is anticipated that this organization would be helpful to the environmental scientist who wants an update on the types of mass spectrometry methods used for a particular pollutant. Geological measurements are included in this review, and they can be found in the Inorganic Analyses section.