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Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectra were obtained from single biological aerosol particles using an aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ATOFMS). The inlet to the ATOFMS was coupled with an evaporation/condensation flow cell that allowed the aerosol to be coated with matrix material as the sampled stream entered the spectrometer. Mass spectra were generated from aerosol composed either of gramicidin-S or erythromycin, two small biological molecules, or from aerosolised spores of Bacillus subtilis var niger. Three different matrices were used: 3-nitrobenzyl alcohol, picolinic acid and sinapinic acid. A spectrum of gramicidin-S was generated from approximately 250 attomoles of material using a molar ratio of 3-nitrobenzyl alcohol to analyte of approximately 20:1. A single peak, located at 1224 Da, was obtained from the bacterial spores. The washing liquid and extract solution from the spores were analyzed using electrospray mass spectrometry and subsequent MS/MS product ion experiments. This independent analysis suggests that the measured species represents part of the B. subtilis peptidoglycan. The on-line addition of matrix allows quasi-real-time chemical analysis of individual, aerodynamically sized particles, with an overall system residence time of less than 5 seconds. These results suggest that a MALDI-ATOFMS can provide nearly real-time identification of biological aerosols. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectra were obtained from single biological aerosol particles using an aerosol time‐of‐flight mass spectrometer (ATOFMS). The inlet to the ATOFMS was coupled with an evaporation/condensation flow cell that allowed the aerosol to be coated with matrix material as the sampled stream entered the spectrometer. Mass spectra were generated from aerosol composed either of gramicidin‐S or erythromycin, two small biological molecules, or from aerosolised spores of Bacillus subtilis var niger. Three different matrices were used: 3‐nitrobenzyl alcohol, picolinic acid and sinapinic acid. A spectrum of gramicidin‐S was generated from approximately 250 attomoles of material using a molar ratio of 3‐nitrobenzyl alcohol to analyte of approximately 20:1. A single peak, located at 1224 Da, was obtained from the bacterial spores. The washing liquid and extract solution from the spores were analyzed using electrospray mass spectrometry and subsequent MS/MS product ion experiments. This independent analysis suggests that the measured species represents part of the B. subtilispeptidoglycan. The on‐line addition of matrix allows quasi‐real‐time chemical analysis of individual, aerodynamically sized particles, with an overall system residence time of less than 5 seconds. These results suggest that a MALDI‐ATOFMS can provide nearly real‐time identification of biological aerosols. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Summary: Single short, i.e. ca 2-cm long, high-pressure-packed columns coupled with mass spectrometric (MS) or tandem MS detection enable rapid trace-level determination and identification of environmental pollutants in water samples. In this study an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) interface has been used and the overall set-up was tested with a mixture of seventeen pesticides, including organophosphates, carbamates, phenylureas and triazines. For the majority of the test analytes, the most prominent peaks in the positive-ion APCI-MS spectra resulted from protonated molecules. For fifteen out of the seventeen pesticides short-column liquid chromatography (LC)-APCI-MS of water samples as small as 15 mL resulted in detection limits between 0.03 and 5 mgrg L–1 in full-scan mode and between 2 and 750 ng L–1 by selected ion monitoring (SIM), both recorded in the positive-ion mode. Production spectra from protonated molecules of the majority of the selected pesticides present at a level of 0.1 mgrg L–1 in tap water are successfully identified from a search against a pesticide MS-MS library compiled in-house. This short-column LC-APCI-MS(-MS) approach has, on the basis of full-scan positive-ion data and their product-ion spectra, also been used to confirm the identity of target compounds and to identify unknown organic micropollutants in environmental waters.

Summary Capillary gas chromatographic (GC) methods using sulphur and mass selective detection for the qualitative and quantitative determination of tetrahydrophtalimide (THPI) and 2-thiothiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (TTCA), urinary metabolites of the fungicide captan in rat and humans, were developed. Urinary detection limits were 2.7 µg/l for THPI and 110 µg/l for TTCA. Intraperitoneal and oral administration of captan to rats resulted in a 48-h cumulative urinary excretion of THPI of 1%–2% and 3%–9% of the dose, respectively. Cumulative urinary excretion of TTCA over 48 h ranged from 2% to 5% of the captan dose for the respective routes of administration. In urine of non-exposed human subjects, neither THPI nor TTCA could be detected. In urine of fruit-growers who were occupationally exposed to captan, both THPI and TTCA could be detected. Based on these results, THPI and TTCA are proposed as promising parameters for the biological monitoring of occupational exposure to captan.

The triphenylmethane (I) reacts with silane (II) to give a 1:1 mixture of diastereomers.