TESLA-Analytical Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 1, Graz 8010, Austria.
Danish Environmental Protection Agency, Tolderlundsvej 5, Odense C 5000, Denmark.
Environ Sci Technol. 2024 Jul 23;58(29):12755-12762. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.4c00504. Epub 2024 Jul 10.
Due to the increasing number of chemicals released into the environment, nontarget screening (NTS) analysis is a necessary tool for providing comprehensive chemical analysis of environmental pollutants. However, NTS workflows encounter challenges in detecting both known and unknown pollutants with common chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) methods. Identification of unknowns is hindered by limited elemental composition information, and quantification without identical reference standards is prone to errors. To address these issues, we propose the use of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) as an element-specific detector. ICP-MS can enhance the confidence of compound identification and improve quantification in NTS due to its element-specific response and unambiguous chemical composition information. Additionally, mass balance calculations for individual elements (F, Br, Cl, etc.) enable assessment of total recovery of those elements and evaluation of NTS workflows. Despite its benefits, implementing ICP-MS in NTS analysis and environmental regulation requires overcoming certain shortcomings and challenges, which are discussed herein.
由于越来越多的化学物质被释放到环境中，非靶向筛选（NTS）分析是提供环境污染物全面化学分析的必要工具。然而，NTS 工作流程在使用常见的色谱-高分辨率质谱（HRMS）方法检测已知和未知污染物时遇到了挑战。由于元素组成信息有限，未知物的鉴定受到阻碍，而没有相同参考标准的定量则容易出错。为了解决这些问题，我们建议使用电感耦合等离子体质谱（ICP-MS）作为元素特异性检测器。由于 ICP-MS 具有元素特异性响应和明确的化学成分信息，因此可以增强化合物鉴定的可信度，并提高 NTS 中的定量准确性。此外，对单个元素（F、Br、Cl 等）进行质量平衡计算，可以评估这些元素的总回收率，并评估 NTS 工作流程。尽管 ICP-MS 具有这些优势，但在 NTS 分析和环境法规中实施 ICP-MS 需要克服某些缺点和挑战，本文对此进行了讨论。
