MoP-13


THE EMERGENCE OF GC/MS/MS AS A ROUTINE TOOL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

Annabel Mitchell1 and Terry Sheehan2

1Varian Australia, 679 Springvale Road , Mulgrave ,Vic 3170, Australia
2Varian Chromatography Systems, 2700 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, CA, USA 94598


The complexity of many environmental samples and the regulatory requirements for improved accuracy and precision with lower detection limits generate many challenging analytical problems. The resultant demands for greater selectivity and increased signal/noise in the analytical process has always driven the search for new and better technologieshat promise improved solutions.In the case of GC/MS ,the advent of lower cost rugged benchtop units with PC based workstations has eliminated the research image that mass spec had held for decades and accelerated its evolution as a common, routine tool for many environmental labs.

The fundamental value of GC/MS has always been the combined selectivity of the gas chromatographic separation and the additive selectivity of the mass detection based upon mass to charge ratio (m/z). With high resolution capillary separations and unit spectral resolution, many difficult environmental problems have been solved, but the analytical power of GC/MS is not without its limits. More selective MS processes such as high resolution MS or MS/MS have proven very valuable in select situations, but these alternatives have never been practical due to constraints such as cost, size, and complexity. In the last two years, commercial ion traps have broken through these limitations and can now deliver a highly selective,low cost and easy to use GC/MS/MS .This ion trap MS/MS technology has been applied to a wide variety of environmental problems including PAH isomers, PCBs, dioxins, furans, and residual pesticides and herbicides. Selectivity enhancements of MS/MS relative to MS will be demonstrated as will comparisons to high resolution MS.