Detection of chemical warfare agent degradation products in foods using liquid chromatography coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Abstract

The following work presents the exploration of three chromatographic separations in combination with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for the analysis of chemical warfare agent degradation products (CWADPs). The robust ionization of ICP is virtually matrix independent thus enabling the examination of sample matrices generally considered too complicated for analysis by electrospray ionization (ESI) or atmospheric pressure chemical ionization MS with little to no sample preparation. The analysis was focused on detecting CWADPs in food matrices, as they present possible vehicles for terrorist contamination. Due to the specific detection of 31P by ICP-MS, resolution of analytes of interest from other P-containing interferences (H 3PO 4) was a crucial part of each separation. Up to 10 CWADPs were separated in the presence of H 3PO 4 with detection limits in the low part per billion levels using the methods described. Additionally, one method was tailored to be compatible with both ICP-MS and ESI-MS making structural verification possible.