Investigation of the matrix effects on a HPLC-ESI-MS/MS method and application for monitoring triazine, phenylurea and chloroacetanilide concentrations in fresh and estuarine waters

Abstract

In this work, the effects of matrix interferences on the analytical performance of a new multiresidue method based on off-line solid phase extraction followed by reversed-phase liquid chromatographic separation and electrospray triple quadrupole mass spectrometric detection were investigated. This technique allows the simultaneous determination of 30 triazines, phenylureas and chloroacetanilides, extracted from freshwaters, in 40 minutes. Quantifications were performed with the use of appropriate internal standards (i.e. atrazine D5, diuron D6 and metolachlor D6). The limits of quantification were from 1 to 32 ng L(-1) for the triazines, from 5 to 59 ng L(-1) for the phenylureas and from 13 to 54 ng L(-1) for the chloroacetanilides. The matrix effects were studied by spiking various waters (i.e. tap, river, pond and sea waters) with the chemicals of interest. The results showed that the samples with the highest conductivity (i.e. seawater) and the most abundant dissolved organic matter content (i.e. pond water) exhibited important matrix effects with signal suppressions and high imprecision, respectively. These matrix effects were strongly minimized by performing appropriate internal standardizations. Afterward, this analytical method was applied for analyzing environmental samples from either river or estuarine waters and for monitoring herbicide input in a freshwater-seawater interface.

Improved detection of β-N-methylamino-l-alanine using N-hydroxysuccinimide ester of N-butylnicotinic acid for the localization of BMAA in blue mussels (Mytilus edulis)

“…The impact of matrix effects on the ESI signal has been previously investigated [26,27]. A signal enhancement of around 10 % was observed for BMAA derivatized with AQC [28].…”

Determination of Chlorantraniliprole Residues in Corn and Soil by UPLC–ESI–MS/MS and Its Application to a Pharmacokinetic Study

“…Among several ionization modes, ESI has been proven to be reliable, robust, and sensitive [13][14][15]. Nevertheless, even if HPLC-ESI-MS/MS is used for quantitative purposes, it can also be hampered by the presence of co-eluting matrix compounds, such as humic acids that might interfere with the ionization of the target analyte and its quantitation [16,17].…”

An environmentally friendly method for the determination of triazine herbicides in estuarine seawater samples by dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction

“…Gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry has been widely employed (Sanchez-Ortega et al 2009;Bagheri et al 2010;Djozan et al 2010;Katsumata et al 2010;Matamoros et al 2010;Navarro et al 2010;Portoles et al 2011;Bagheri et al 2012), and the use of liquid chromatography with different detectors such as ultraviolet (Hu et al 2009a, b;Zhou et al 2009;Beale et al 2010;See et al 2010), diode array (Kueseng et al 2009;Wang et al 2010Wang et al , 2011Rodríguez-González et al 2013) or mass spectrometry (Mazzella et al 2009;van Pinxteren et al 2009;Dujakovic et al 2010;García-Galán et al 2010;Postigo et al 2010;Trtic-Petrovic et al 2010;Lissalde et al 2011) was also reported.…”