Method development for the identification and quantitative analysis of seven nitrosamines using gas chromatography mass spectrometry

Abstract

Abstract Nitrosamines (NAms) are emerging organic pollutants formed as by-products of chemical treatment of water, environmental samples as well as in foods at low concentrations. They are potentially carcinogenic and because of their hydrophilic and volatile nature, they are highly soluble in water. They fragment at high temperatures thus, they require appropriate oven temperature and gas flow rate in gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for their quantitative analysis. The analytical method for the identification and quantitation of seven volatile and thermally un-stable nitrosamines namely, (N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), N-nitrosomethylethylamine (NMEA) N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR), N-nitrosodi-n-propylamine (NDPA), N-nitrosopiperidine (NPIP) and N-nitrosodi-n-butylamine (NDBA) is presented in this work. The GC-MS with a DB-5 (30 m × 0.25 mm × 0.25 µm) capillary column (5% phenyl-95% dimethyl polysiloxane) was used in selective ion monitoring (SIM) mode. The target and reference ions ranged between 70–114 and 41–57 correspondingly, produced accurate mass measurement and sharper and clearly defined chromatogram. The relative standard deviation, RSD