Rapid target analysis of microcontaminants in water by on-line single-short-column liquid chromatography combined with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization ion-trap mass spectrometry.

The applicability of trace enrichment and separation of microcontaminants on a single 10 x 2 mm I.D. high-pressure-packed liquid chromatography (LC) column, combined on-line with an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI)-ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS) instrument was studied for the target analysis of herbicides in river water. The total analysis time was 15-20 min. With the on-line short-column LC-MS-MS method, detection limits of 0.1-1 microgram/l can be achieved using only 4 ml of river water. However, the results obtained for a mixture of six triazines were considerably better than those for a mixture of eight phenylureas. An attempt is made to explain this difference on the basis of various processes that occur within the ion trap and the measurement procedure itself.