Analysis of triazines and associated metabolites with electrospray ionization field-asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry/mass spectrometry

Triazines comprise an important pollutant class owing to continued use in certain countries, and owing to strong environmental persistence that leads to problems even in countries like Sweden where the use of triazines has been prohibited for some years. We investigated mass-selective detection for analysis of triazines. More specifically, we studied the background reduction and sensitivity enhancement that result from the use of a new interface technique, field-asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS), in conjunction with electrospray ionization ion-trap mass spectrometry. This technique allows for ion sorting and discrimination against the considerable "chemical noise", nonspecific cluster and fragment ions, which are typically generated in electrospray ionization. This paper presents results of a pilot study of triazines and some metabolites in ideal solvents. Our long-range goal is automated analysis with mass-selective detection coupled to membrane-based sample cleanup and enrichment for additional enhancement in sensitivity.