Extending the Quantitative Performance for Haloacetic Acids, Bromate, and Dalapon in Water Using an IC-MS/MS Workflow

Drinking Water
Poster Presentation

Prepared by E. George, N. Wijeratne, C. Maxey, C. Martins
Thermo Fisher Scientific, 355 River Oaks Pkwy, San Jose, CA, 95134, United States


Contact Information: [email protected]; 408-300-4267


ABSTRACT

Strategies for water purification include mechanical measures and disinfection, which often utilizes chlorination to remove microbial content. The disinfection process, however, can introduce by-products that can result in health risks. The primary class of compounds associated with drinking water contamination is disinfection by-products (DBPs). Haloacetic acids (HAAs) are a subgroup of DBPs, which are specifically linked to cancer and other health issues.

In previous work, we demonstrated a complete workflow solution for routine quantitation of nine HAAs in drinking water based on EPA Method 557 using IC-MS/MS, which allows for direct sample analysis without derivatization. An updated workflow is presented here that utilizes the latest Thermo Scientific instrumentation to deliver ideal productivity for current HAA analysis as well as future-proofing for tomorrow’s requirements. Chromatographic separation is performed using the Thermo Scientific™ Dionex™ ICS-6000 HPIC system coupled to the Thermo Scientific™ Fortis™ Plus triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The Dionex ICS-6000 system maintains temperature control in the autosampler, delivering excellent sample stability. The TSQ Fortis Plus mass spectrometer enables direct method transfer from the original workflow without requiring method optimization, eliminating disruption in data acquisition. It contains an enhanced active collision cell (Q2) that increases the transmission efficiency for low-mass product ions by an average of two-fold, resulting in improved LLOQs that are significantly below the MRLs of all HAAs. The improved LLOQs enable reduced sample loading amounts from 100 μL, as previously defined, to 50 μL while still satisfying regulatory requirements. The reduced sample loading amounts further extend the robustness of the system to meet high sample throughput requirements.