Microcystins in Drinking Water Utilizing High Resolution Mass Spectrometry

New Environmental Monitoring Techniques for Organics
Oral Presentation

Prepared by K. Hyland
SCIEX, 1201 Radio Rd., Redwood City, CA, 94065, United States


Contact Information: kc.hyland@sciex.com; 650-410-0842


ABSTRACT

High resolution-accurate mass (HRAM) mass spectrometric analyses allow environmental screening and quantitation methods to be extremely confident in the identification of residues and contaminants. Quantitative workflows typically involving a targeted list of MRM transitions for acquisition can be expanded to include suspect and nontarget screening, and utilization of both accurate mass and spectral database searching to achieve the most useful information. Paramount to the success of these types of applications is the ability to identify residues in environmental samples, confirm such identification using multiple attributes, and to quantify an identified target. Workflows are presented which demonstrate multiple approaches for using MRMHR to achieve quantitative and qualitative analyses of microcystins in drinking water. Additional workflow showing the parallel application of SWATH data independent MSMS acquisition is also outlined, and the advantages and challenges of these approaches are directly compared. The capacity to achieve high resolution mass spectral data for environmental screening, monitoring, and measurement of trace level organic contaminants combined with seamless data processing for multiple workflows on a single platform is presented as an advantage to the environmental analyst interested in multiple facets of sample analysis.