The instrumental improvements and advances of high resolution mass spectrometry (HRAAS) has revolutionized modern analytical chemistry and notably increased applications to environmental chemistry and exposure fields. In this work, we illustrate that recent coupling of gas and liquid chromatography to HRMS, using analyzers such as QTOF and Orbitrap. These hyphenated techniques have made the screening of large number of organic pollutants in the environment possible. Using both chromatographic techniques coupled to HRMS many different organic pollutants can be detected and identified with high reliability, from volatileon polar compounds to non-volatile/highly polar ones. Different approaches can be applied, from non-target screening (discovery of unknowns) to target screening (with our without reference standards). After identification of the pollutants present in the samples, analytical efforts can then be directed towards the most relevant compounds by applying target quantitative methods, commonly based on tandem MS using triple quadrupole analyzers. Advantageously and thanks to the accurate-mass full-spectrum acquisition, HRMS allows retrospective analysis i.e. searching for additional compounds not considered in the initial analysis without the need of new injections. Searching for metabolites and transformation products that share common fragments with the parent molecule is another interesting possibility that may allow discovering many compounds that otherwise would remain ignored in the analyses.
展开▼
