Aliphatic and aromatic amines in atmospheric aerosol particles: comparison of three ionization techniques in liquid...

A complete methodology was developed for the determination of ten aliphatic and nine aromatic amines in atmospheric aerosol particles. Before the liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometric separation and determination, the derivatization reaction of the analytes using dansyl chloride was accelerated by ultrasounds. From three different ionization techniques studied electrospray ionization was superior in terms of sensitivity, linearity, repeatability and reproducibility over atmospheric pressure chemical ionization and photoionization for the target analytes. The method developed was validated for the gas phase, 30 nm and total suspended atmospheric aerosol particles. The method quantification limits ranged between 1.8 and 71.7 pg. The accuracy and the potential matrix effects were evaluated using a standard addition methodology. Recoveries from 92.1% to 109.1%, the repeatability from 0.6% to 8.4% and the reproducibility from 2.3% to 9.8% were obtained. The reliability of the methodology was proved by the statistical evaluation. Finally, the developed methodology was applied to the determination of the target analytes in eight size separated ultrafine particulate (Dp=30±4 nm) samples and in eight total suspended particulate samples collected at the SMEAR II station. The mean concentrations for aliphatic amines were between 0.01 and 42.67 ng m(-3) and for aromatic amines between 0.02 and 1.70 ng m(-3). Thirteen amines were quantified for the first time in 30 nm aerosol particles.