LC-MS/MS determination of tralopyril in water samples

A targeted analytical method was established to determine tralopyril (4-bromo-2-(4-chlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-1H-pyrrole-3-carbonitrile) in water. This compound has been recently introduced as a biocide in ship antifouling paints, becoming a potential new environmental contaminant. The method presented here allows for the first time the direct determination of tralopyril in environmental samples without the need of a pre-concentration step. The injected sample is separated by a 30 min HPLC-gradient on a reversed phase column and the compound identified and quantified by negative ion LC-MS/MS. Tralopyril solutions in DMSO, seawater, river Glatt water and E3 medium (used for zebrafish experiments) were analysed to demonstrate the applicability of the method. The method provides good retention time reproducibility and a quantitation limit (LOQ) of 0.025 μg L(-1) for DMSO, seawater and E3 exposure medium and 0.05 μg L(-1) for river Glatt water. Calculated tralopyril half-lives were 6.1 h for seawater, 8.1 h for river Glatt water and 7.4 h for E3 medium at 18 °C.