U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Homeland Security Research Center, Cincinnati, OH 45268, USA.
J Chromatogr A. 2012 Dec 28;1270:72-9. doi: 10.1016/j.chroma.2012.11.013.
Degradation products arising from nitrogen mustard chemical warfare agent were deposited on common urban surfaces and determined via surface wiping, wipe extraction, and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry detection. Wipes investigated included cotton gauze, glass fiber filter, non-woven polyester fiber and filter paper, and surfaces included several porous (vinyl tile, painted drywall, wood) and mostly non-porous (laminate, galvanized steel, glass) surfaces. Wipe extracts were analyzed by ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS/MS) and compared with high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS) results. An evaluation of both techniques suggests UPLC–MS/MS provides a quick and sensitive analysis of targeted degradation products in addition to being nearly four times faster than a single HPLC run, allowing for greater throughput during a wide-spread release concerning large-scale contamination and subsequent remediation events. Based on the overall performance of all tested wipes, filter paper wipes were selected over other wipes because they did not contain interferences or native species (TEA and DEA) associated with the target analytes, resulting in high percent recoveries and low background levels during sample analysis. Other wipes, including cotton gauze, would require a pre-cleaning step due to the presence of large quantities of native species or interferences of the targeted analytes. Percent recoveries obtained from a laminate surface were 47–99% for all nitrogen mustard degradation products. The resulting detection limits achieved from wipes were 0.2 ng/cm(2) for triethanolamine (TEA), 0.03 ng/cm(2) for N-ethyldiethanolamine (EDEA), 0.1 ng/cm(2) for N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA), and 0.1 ng/cm(2) for diethanolamine (DEA).
芥子气化学战剂的降解产物沉积在常见的城市表面上，并通过表面擦拭、擦拭提取和液相色谱-串联质谱检测来确定。研究的擦拭物包括棉纱布、玻璃纤维滤器、非织造聚酯纤维和滤纸，表面包括几种多孔（乙烯基瓷砖、涂漆石膏板、木材）和大多数非多孔（层压板、镀锌钢、玻璃）表面。擦拭提取物通过超高效液相色谱-串联质谱（UPLC-MS/MS）进行分析，并与高效液相色谱-串联质谱（HPLC-MS/MS）结果进行比较。对这两种技术的评估表明，UPLC-MS/MS 除了比单次 HPLC 运行快近四倍之外，还可以快速灵敏地分析靶向降解产物，从而在大规模污染和随后的修复事件发生时，在广泛释放期间实现更大的通量。基于所有测试擦拭物的整体性能，滤纸擦拭物比其他擦拭物更具优势，因为它们不含有与目标分析物相关的干扰物或天然物质（TEA 和 DEA），从而在样品分析过程中实现了高回收率和低背景水平。其他擦拭物，包括棉纱布，由于存在大量的天然物质或目标分析物的干扰物，因此需要进行预清洁步骤。从层压板表面获得的回收率为所有芥子气降解产物的 47%-99%。从擦拭物中获得的检测限分别为三乙醇胺（TEA）0.2ng/cm²、N-乙基二乙醇胺（EDEA）0.03ng/cm²、N-甲基二乙醇胺（MDEA）0.1ng/cm²和二乙醇胺（DEA）0.1ng/cm²。
