Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
Anal Chem. 2010 May 1;82(9):3727-35. doi: 10.1021/ac100103y.
The Athabasca oil sands in Canada are a less conventional source of oil which have seen rapid development. There are concerns about the environmental impact, with particular respect to components in oil sands process water which may enter the aquatic ecosystem. Naphthenic acids have been previously targeted for study, due to their implications in toxicity toward aquatic wildlife, but it is believed that other components, too, contribute toward the potential toxicity of the oil sands process water. When mass spectrometry is used, it is necessary to use instrumentation with a high resolving power and mass accuracy when studying complex mixtures, but the technique has previously been hindered by the range of compounds that have been accessible via common ionization techniques, such as electrospray ionization. The research described here applied Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry in conjunction with electrospray ionization and atmospheric pressure photoionization, in both positive-ion and negative-ion modes, to the characterization of oil sands process water for the first time. The results highlight the need for broader characterization when investigating toxic components within oil sands process water.
加拿大的艾伯塔省油砂是一种非常规的石油资源，近年来得到了快速发展。人们对其环境影响表示担忧，特别是对进入水生态系统的油砂加工水中的成分表示关注。由于环烷酸对水生野生动物具有毒性影响，因此先前曾针对其进行研究，但据信其他成分也可能对油砂加工水的潜在毒性产生影响。当使用质谱法时，在研究复杂混合物时，需要使用具有高分辨率和质量精度的仪器，但该技术以前受到通过常见电离技术（如电喷雾电离）可获得的化合物范围的限制。这里描述的研究首次应用傅里叶变换离子回旋共振质谱法结合电喷雾电离和大气压光电离，在正离子和负离子模式下，对油砂加工水进行了表征。研究结果突出表明，在调查油砂加工水中的有毒成分时，需要进行更广泛的表征。
