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Updated: May 25, 2026

Single-throughput Complementary High-resolution Analytical Techniques for Characterizing Complex Natural Organic Matter Mixtures
Published on: January 7, 2019
Natural dissolved organic matter affects electrospray ionization during analysis of emerging contaminants by mass
Samanthi Wickramasekara1, Selene Hernández-Ruiz, Leif Abrell
1Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
Abstract:
Dissolved organic matter (DOM), present in many forms in water, can interfere with analysis of organic contaminants by atmospheric pressure ionization-mass spectrometry. A quantitative analysis of this interference, or matrix effect, on organic contaminant target analyte measurements was carried out using un-fractionated and fractionated dissolved natural organic matter from the Suwannee River, GA (SROM), a standard reference material, that was directly infused into the tandem mass spectrometer during multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) of a suite of endocrine disrupting compounds-pharmaceuticals and personal care products (EDC/PPCPs). Most target analytes suffered signal suppression in the presence of both fractionated and un-fractionated SROM, however greater interferences were measured with fractionated relative to bulk SROM. This finding is consistent with the view of organic matter as a supramolecular association of low molecular mass components having separate charged and structural features revealed only after dissociation.
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