Determination of the strong mutagen 3-chloro-4-(dichloromethyl)-5-hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone (MX) and its analogues by...

A new analytical method has been developed for the determination of chlorinated and brominated hydroxyfuranones. The method is based on separation by GC and selective determination of the compounds by use of an ion-trap mass detector. MS-MS fragmentation in an ion-trap detector can be regarded as an alternative to high-resolution mass spectrometry. Unique precursor ions were selected from the EI mass spectra and product-ion patterns were studied for a variety of collision energies. From these data, abundant mass transitions were selected for quantification and confirmation of compound identity. The method was applied to a spiked sample of chlorine-disinfected drinking water and it was found that the GC-MS-MS procedure is at least as sensitive and selective as previously published methods.