Fast selective detection of polar brominated disinfection byproducts in drinking water using precursor ion scans

Brominated disinfection byproducts (DBPs), formed from the reaction of disinfectant(s) with natural organic matter and bromide in raw water, are generally more cytotoxic and genotoxic than their chlorinated analogues. Brominated DBPs have been intensively studied over the past 35 years, yet only a fraction of the total organic bromine formed during disinfection has been identified. A significant portion of the unaccounted total organic bromine may be attributed to polar/highly polar brominated DBPs. In this work, a method for fast selective detection of polar/ highly polar brominated DBPs in drinking water was developed using negative ion electrospray ionization-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (ESI-tqMS) by setting precursor ion scans of m/z 79 and 81. This method was conducted without liquid chromatography separation. The results demonstrate that the ESI-tqMS precursor ion scan is an effective tool for the selective detection of electrospray ionizable bromine-containing compounds in a complex mixture. Many polar/ highly polar bromine-containing DBPs were tentatively found in two drinking water samples, and some of them may be new brominated DBPs that have not been previously reported. This method was also extended for the selective detection of polar bromine-containing compounds/contaminants in groundwater, surface water and wastewater.