Raimo A. Ketola

Optimization of capillary electrophoretic-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometric analysis of catecholamines

The capillary electrophoretic‐mass spectrometric analysis (CE‐MS) of catecholamines was optimized with coaxial sheath flow interface and electrospray ionization (ESI). The parameters studied included the sheath liquid composition and its flow rate, separation conditions in ammonium acetate buffer together with the ESI and cone voltages as mass spectrometric parameters. In addition, the effect of ESI voltage on injection as well as the siphoning effect were considered. The optimized conditions were a sheath liquid composition of methanol‐water (80:20 v/v) with 0.5% acetic acid, with a flow rate of 6 νL/min. The capillary electrophoretic separation parameters were optimized with 50 mM ammonium acetate buffer, pH 4.0, to +25 kV separation voltage together with a pressure of 0.1 psi. The most intensive signals were obtained with an ESI voltage of +4.0 kV and a cone voltage of +20 V. The nonactive ESI voltage during injection as well as avoidance of the siphoning effect increased the sensitivity of the MS detection considerably. The use of ammonium hydroxide as the CE capillary conditioning solution instead of sodium hydroxide did not affect the CE‐MS performance, but allowed the conditioning of the capillary between analyses to be performed in the MS without contaminating the ion source.

Comparison of different methods for the determination of volatile organic compounds in water samples.

The aim of this work was to compare the characteristics of three methods, membrane inlet mass spectrometry (MIMS), purge-and-trap gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (P&T) and static headspace gas chromatography (HSGC), for the determination of volatile organic compounds in water samples as used in routine analysis. The characteristics examined included linear dynamic ranges, detection limits of selected environmentally hazardous volatile organic compounds (e.g. toluene, benzene and trichloroethene) in water, required analysis time and reproducibility of the analytical methods. The MIMS and P&T methods had the lowest detection limits for all the tested compounds, ranging from 0.1 to 5 mug 1(-1). Linear dynamic ranges using the MIMS method were about four orders of magnitude and using the P&T method about two orders of magnitude. Detection limits of the HSGC method were 10-100 times higher than those of the other two methods, but the linear dynamic ranges were larger, even up to six orders of magnitude. The analysis time per sample was shortest for the MIMS method, from 5 to 10 min, and ranged around from 35 to 45 min for the HSGC and P&T methods. The reproducibilities of the methods were of the same order of magnitude, in the range of 1-13%. Agreement between the analytical results obtained for spiked samples and for environmental water samples by the three different methods was very good.

Occurrence and formation of chloroform at Danish forest sites

Abstract Ambient air and soil air of spruce forest, beech forest and grassland from Zealand, Denmark, were investigated for volatile chlorinated compounds by adsorbent tube sampling, thermodesorption, cryo-trapping and analysis by high-resolution gas chromatography with electron capture detection. The mean concentration of chloroform in the top soil–air was in the range of 0.4–2.3xa0ngxa0l −1 . Compared to ambient air, the chloroform concentration in the topsoil was 6.7, 4.3 and 4.6 times higher for spruce forest, beech forest and grassland, respectively. For tetrachloromethane, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene, the concentrations were in the same order of magnitude (0.04–1.2xa0ngxa0l −1 ). However, the concentration ratios between soil air and ambient air were close to unity. Release studies in the topsoil of the spruce forest showed an increase of the chloroform concentration of approximately 4 times the initial soil air concentration after 38xa0h, while the concentrations of the other volatile chlorinated compounds investigated remained fairly constant. The observed chloroform concentration profiles and release rates may indicate a biogenic formation of chloroform in the upper soil layer of spruce forests, whereas an anthropogenic origin is suggested for the other chlorinated compounds investigated. From the release study and concentration gradient measurements in the spruce forest soil, chloroform release to the atmosphere was calculated for northern temperate regions. The release was in the range of the annual anthropogenic chloroform emissions, and, therefore, the terrestrial environment can be considered as an important contributor to the atmospheric chloroform input.

Development of a membrane inlet mass spectrometric method for analysis of air samples

A sheet membrane inlet mass spectrometric (MIMS) method for the on-line analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air at low μg/m3 levels was developed. The effects of the thickness of the membrane, the temperature of the membrane inlet and the flow rate of the sample on the responses and response times of some selected VOCs were studied in detail. Under optimised conditions the detection limits for the VOCs studied were 0.5–4 g m−3 and linear dynamic ranges were about four orders of magnitude. Response times of only a few seconds were recorded with a thin (25 μm) membrane. The developed MIMS method was applied to an analysis of air samples from an exhaust of a paintshop, where volatile organic solvents were used.

On-line monitoring of continuous beer fermentation process using automatic membrane inlet mass spectrometric system.

A fully automatic membrane inlet mass spectrometric (MIMS) on-line instrumentation for the analysis of aroma compounds in continuous beer fermentation processes was constructed and tested. The instrumentation includes automatic filtration of the sample stream, flushing of all tubing between samples and pH control. The calibration standards can be measured periodically. The instrumentation has also an extra sample line that can be used for off-line sample collection or it can be connected to another on-line method. Detection limits for ethanol, acetic acid and eight organic beer aroma compounds were from mugl(-1) to low mgl(-1) levels and the standard deviations were less than 3.4%. The method has a good repeatability and linearity in the measurement range. Response times are shorter than or equal to 3min for all compounds except for ethyl caproate, which has a response time of 8min. In beer aroma compound analysis a good agreement between MIMS and static headspace gas chromatographic (HSGC) measurements was found. The effects of different matrix compounds commonly present in the fermentation media on the MIMS response to acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate and ethanol were studied. Addition of yeast did not have any effect on the MIMS response of ethanol or ethyl acetate. Sugars, glucose and xylose, increased the MIMS response of all studied analytes only slightly, whereas salts, ammonium chloride, ammonium nitrate and sodium chloride, increased the MIMS response of all three studied compounds prominently. The system was used for on-line monitoring of continuous beer fermentation with immobilised yeast. The results show that with MIMS it is possible to monitor the changes in the continuous process as well as delays in the two-phase process.

Determination of phenolic compounds in water using membrane inlet mass spectrometry.

Two membrane inlet mass spectrometric (MIMS) methods for determining phenolic compounds in water are described and compared, namely direct analysis and analysis after acetylation of the phenolic compounds. Direct analysis of phenolic compounds in water is a very simple and rapid method and detection limits are relatively low (from 30 mug 1(-1) for phenol to 1000 mug 1(-1) for 4-nitrophenol). Analysis of phenolic compounds after aqueous acetylation is also a very simple and rapid method, and the detection limits are even two orders of magnitude lower than in the direct analysis. For example the detection limit of phenol acetate is 0.5 mug 1(-1) and that of 4-nitrophenol is 10 mug 1(-1). The acetylation method was also tested in the analysis of phenolic compounds from contaminated surface water samples.

Temperature-programmed desorption for membrane inlet mass spectrometry

We present a novel technique for analyzing volatile organic compounds in air samples using a solid adsorbent together with temperature-programmed desorption and subsequent detection by membrane inlet mass spectrometry (TPD-MIMS). The new system has the advantage of a fast separation of compounds prior to the detection by MIMS. The gaseous sample is simply adsorbed on the adsorbent, which is then rapidly heated from 30u2009°C to 250u2009°C at a rate of 50u2009°C/min. Trapped organic compounds are released from the adsorbent into a helium stream at different temperatures depending on the strength of the interaction between the individual compound and the adsorbent. The helium stream carries the desorbed compounds to a membrane inlet (90u2009°C) equipped with a thin (25u2005μm) silicone membrane. The thin membrane and the high temperature of the membrane inlet allows most volatile compounds to diffuse through the membrane into the mass spectrometer in a few seconds. In this fashion we could completely separate many similar volatile compounds, for example toluene from xylene and trichloroethene from tetrachloroethene. Typical detection limits were at low or sub-nanogram levels, the dynamic range was 3 orders of magnitude, and the analysis time for a mixture was about 3–4 minutes.

Determination of mono- and sesquiterpenes in water samples by membrane inlet mass spectrometry and static headspace gas chromatography

A membrane inlet mass spectrometric (MIMS) method is presented and compared with a static headspace gas chromatographic method (HSGC) for the determination of terpenes in water. The MIMS method provides a very simple and fast analysis of terpenes in water, detection limits being relatively low, from 0.2 mug l(-1) for monoterpenes to 2 mug l(-1) for geraniol. The analysis of terpenes by the HSGC (equipped with flame ionization detector, FID) method is more time-consuming and the detection limits (2 mug l(-1) for monoterpenes to 100 mug l(-1) for geraniol) are higher than with MIMS. However, the HSGC method has the advantage of determining individual mono- and sesquiterpene compounds, whereas MIMS provides only separation of different classes of terpenes. Both methods were applied to the analysis of mono- and sesquiterpenes in several condensation water samples of pulp and paper mills.

Analysis of residual solvents in pharmaceuticals with purge-and-membrane mass spectrometry

A method using purge-and-membrane mass spectrometry (PAM-MS) was developed for the analysis of residual solvents in pharmaceutical products. The method combines dynamic headspace and membrane inlet mass spectrometry. The limits of detection for the compounds studied, benzene, toluene, chloroform, 2-pentene and 2-methyl- and 3-methylpentane, were 0.05-0.1 mg/kg. In quantitative analysis the method showed good linearity (r(2) > 0.998) and acceptable within-day (RSD = 7.9-18%) and between-day (RSD = 6.8-10%) repeatability. The PAM-MS method combined with the custom-made Solver program was compared with a method using purge-and-trap gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (P&T-GC/MS) for identification of residual solvents from authentic samples. The results showed that PAM-MS/Solver provides reliable identification of the main volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the pharmaceuticals, but VOCs with low concentrations (below 0.5 mg/kg) were better identified by P&T-GC/MS. Other advantages of the PAM-MS method were short analysis times and non-requirement for pre-treatment of samples.