Fullerenes for aromatic and non-aromatic N-nitrosamines discrimination

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Public Health

Background:

• N-nitrosamines (NAms) in water pose significant public health risks due to their carcinogenic potential.
• Non-aromatic NAms are more toxic than aromatic NAms, necessitating differentiated detection methods.
• Current methods may lack the selectivity or speed required for routine environmental monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simple, rapid, and selective method for discriminating between aromatic and non-aromatic N-nitrosamines in water samples.
• To quantify toxic non-aromatic NAms in complex water matrices using a novel solid-phase extraction (SPE) approach.

Main Methods:

• Construction of an automatic SPE unit with sequential C(60) fullerene and Merck LiChrolut EN columns.
• Selective retention of aromatic NAms on C(60) fullerene and non-aromatic NAms on LiChrolut EN.
• Analysis of eluted non-aromatic NAms using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS).

Main Results:

• C(60) fullerene demonstrated superior selectivity for retaining aromatic NAms compared to C(70) and nanotubes.
• The method achieved a linear range of 15-20,000 ng/L with limits of detection between 4-15 ng/L.
• High recoveries (95-102%) for non-aromatic NAms and an overall method time of 10 minutes per sample.

Conclusions:

• The developed SPE method with C(60) fullerene provides a fast and sensitive approach for quantifying toxic non-aromatic NAms.
• This technique enables the selective analysis of N-nitrosamine fractions in complex environmental samples.
• The method is suitable for routine monitoring of carcinogenic N-nitrosamines in drinking water supplies.