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Improved sample preparation and GC–MS analysis of priority organic pollutants

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Abstract

Mass spectrometry is a major tool for analysing organic pollutants. However, scientists often complain about laborious sample preparation. The development of new commercial high-resolution mass spectrometers gives a chance to improve simultaneously speed, reliability, and sensitivity of the analysis. Here, we used the time-of-flight high-resolution mass spectrometer Pegasus GC-HRT to identify and quantify 55 priority organic pollutants in water samples. This mass spectrometer has a high resolution of 50,000, a high mass accuracy of about 1 ppm and a very high acquisition rate of up to 200 full mass range spectra per second. 1 mL water samples were extracted with 1 mL dichloromethane. Results show that the sample preparation and analysis are achieved 30 times faster, requiring 1,000 times less water and 350 times less solvent than the classic 8270 method of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The detection limit is 1 μg/L. The quantification limit is 10 μg/L. Our procedure, named accelerated water sample preparation, is simpler, faster, cheaper, safer and more reliable than 8270 Method.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge LECO Corporation for allowing access to the Pegasus GC/HRT and Viatcheslav Artaev (LECO Corporation) for technical advice and support related to instrumentation used in this work and help with data processing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical Department, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gori, 1, Bld. 3, Moscow, 119991, Russia

    Olga V. Polyakova, Dmitry M. Mazur & Albert T. Lebedev

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  1. Olga V. Polyakova
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  2. Dmitry M. Mazur
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  3. Albert T. Lebedev
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Correspondence to Albert T. Lebedev.

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Polyakova, O.V., Mazur, D.M. & Lebedev, A.T. Improved sample preparation and GC–MS analysis of priority organic pollutants. Environ Chem Lett 12, 419–427 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-014-0464-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-014-0464-4

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