Rapidly detecting tetrabromobisphenol A in soils and sediments by paper spray ionization mass spectrometry combined with isotopic internal standard

Abstract

Rapidly detecting trace levels of organic contaminants in complex mediums is a great challenge for mass spectrometry analysis. Especially in dealing with large quantities of soil samples, the laborious sample pretreatment process is exhausting and time consuming. Here, a simple method for quickly identifying and quantifying tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) in soils and sediments has been developed via paper spray ambient mass spectrometry coupled with a stable isotope internal standard technique in this study. The soil and sediment extracts, spiked with a certain amount of 13C12-TBBPA (Ring-13C12), are directly loaded and separated on chromatographic paper, sprayed and ionized by a high negative voltage, and ultimately analyzed by mass spectrometry without purification and chromatography separation processes. Data acquisition for each test can be finished within 1 min. In the quantification of TBBPA, a linear range of 0.1–100 µg L–1, a limit of detection of 0.039 µg L–1 and a relative standard deviation (c = 1.0 µg L–1, n = 5) of 5.3% are obtained. The spiking recoveries range from 90.4% to 101.1% for analyzing ten soil and sediment samples (0.012–30.14 µg g–1 dw), suggesting that the method should be a promising strategy for rapidly detecting organic pollutants in soils and sediments.