Protection of our drinking water resources from contaminants is a major responsibility for both government and water producing bodies. The response taken to a potential drinking water emergency will depend upon both the composition and the nature of the identified contaminant(s). Furthermore it is essential that there is a high degree of confidence in the correct and rapid identification of the problem before remedial action is taken. To date it has been a necessity to employ a combination of multiple analytical techniques to meet this end.
This paper describes the use of single quadrupole and triple quadrupole Mass Spectrometry coupled to Liquid Chromatography for the analysis of 17 pesticides in drinking water and soil samples. Both detection technologies are compared with respect to selectivity, sensitivity, identification, linear range, accuracy, and reproducibility for quantitative analysis.
A rapid, robust, sensitive and specific LC-MS/MS assay has been developed for the detection of several major classes of known toxic mycotoxins. The method uses a simple solvent extraction followed by a dilution and injection of extracts to achieve detection of mycotoxins below the regulatory requirements. Fast polarity switching and the Scheduled MRM� algorithm were used with the SCIEX Triple Quad� 5500 system to cover all mycotoxins of interest and to detect them with the best sensitivity, accuracy, and reproducibility.