Natural dissolved organic matter affects electrospray ionization during analysis of emerging contaminants by mass spectrometry

Samanthi Wickramasekara, Selene Hernández-Ruiz, Leif Abrell, Robert G Arnold, Jon Chorover

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dissolved organic matter (DOM), present in many forms in water, can interfere with analysis of organic contaminants by atmospheric pressure ionization-mass spectrometry. A quantitative analysis of this interference, or matrix effect, on organic contaminant target analyte measurements was carried out using un-fractionated and fractionated dissolved natural organic matter from the Suwannee River, GA (SROM), a standard reference material, that was directly infused into the tandem mass spectrometer during multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) of a suite of endocrine disrupting compounds-pharmaceuticals and personal care products (EDC/PPCPs). Most target analytes suffered signal suppression in the presence of both fractionated and un-fractionated SROM, however greater interferences were measured with fractionated relative to bulk SROM. This finding is consistent with the view of organic matter as a supramolecular association of low molecular mass components having separate charged and structural features revealed only after dissociation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)77-84
Number of pages8
JournalAnalytica Chimica Acta
Volume717
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2 2012

Keywords

  • Dissolved organic matter
  • Electrospray ionization
  • Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs)
  • Matrix effect
  • Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs)
  • Ultra high pressure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MSMS)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Biochemistry
  • Spectroscopy
  • Environmental Chemistry

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