Fast Analysis of 140 Pesticides, PAHs, and PCBs by GC/MS/MSEmerging Environmental Applications for High Resolution Mass Spectrometry
Poster Presentation
Prepared by A. Willey1, M. Venier2, E. O'Neill1
1 - Agilent, 10 BUCKEYE RD, WOOLWICH TWP, NJ, 08085, United States
2 - Indiana University, , Bloomington, IN, 47405, United States
Contact Information: [email protected]; 856-269-6739
ABSTRACT
Pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent environmental pollutants that have the potential to harm human health. Previously these compound classes have been analyzed using gas chromatography with an electron capture detector (GC-ECD), but this requires full chromatographic separation of all analytes for confident chemical identification. With a triple quadrupole detector (QQQ), analysis time significantly drops due to mass identification eliminating the need to chromatographically separate all components. Further, multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode on the QQQ provides a higher confidence in peak identification compared to analysis by scan or selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. For this experiment an Agilent 8890 GC with Agilent 7000D QQQ was used for this analysis with PCB concentrations ranging from 5 to 20 ppb, pesticides at 20 ppb, and PAHs at 200 ppb. A dramatic decrease in run time was observed from the previous 165-minute run times for PCB separation on the ECD's, down to 21 minutes on the QQQ, improving productivity of the lab.
