On the Application of High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry to Environmental Analysis

The occurrence of numerous emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment have been reported since they became a "hot topic" in the late 1990's. The detection of these substances in environmental waters is challenging because they are found at very low concentrations and are also structurally heterogeneous. Current analytical techniques used to detect these substances are generally designed to target only a fraction of these compounds and have not yet been adapted to the detection and the identification of unknown substances. It is however crucial to study the presence of transformation products of emerging contaminants that can be potentially found in the environment after biological or chemical degradation. New analytical techniques are thus necessary to screen for the presence of large numbers of suspect emerging contaminants and their degradation products in environmental samples. High resolution-mass spectrometry (HRMS) is a promising technique that has the potential to address the shortcomings of present analytical techniques. Past work with HRMS applied to environmental analysis showed its potential to: i) screen suspect organic contaminants in surface and drinking waters collected in several locations across Canada, ii) screen and confirm the presence of cyanotoxins in algae samples from the Saint-Lawrence River, and iii) elucidate the probable structure of ozonation transformation products of emerging contaminants such as 17α-ethinylestradiol. The advantages and disadvantages of HRMS are discussed here along with strategies proposed in order to further improve its performance.