Polar, hydrophilic compounds in drinking water produced from surface water. Determination by liquid...

Drinking water produced from surface water may contain many polar, hydrophilic compounds in spite of different treatment steps such as soil filtration, ozone treatment and activated carbon filtration. Little is known about these compounds. The objectives of this work were the detection and identification by means of tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS) coupled on-line by a thermospray interface with liquid chromatography. Quantification is possible if standard compounds are available. The different compounds in the water extracts were not only separated by means of an analytical column but also using MS-MS after loop injection bypassing the analytical column. Molecular weight information in the loop spectra (overview spectra) and collisionally induced dissociation (CID) made possible the identification of some of these compounds which cannot be eliminated in the drinking water treatment process. Identification was not only done by interpretation of the recorded daughter- and parent-ion spectra but also by comparing them with a laboratory-made daughter-ion library of polar, hydrophilic pollutants. Direct mixture analysis using MS-MS allows the detection and identification of some of the pollutants if they reach the drinking water in the course of the surface water treatment process because of their biochemical and chemical persistence and/or non-sorbability during the soil or activated carbon filtration process. The proposed method for the analysis of water for polar, non-volatile and/or thermolabile organic substances is a quick, specific and powerful technique which makes it possible to detect and identify these substances without any chromatographic separation or derivatization