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Use of Gas Chromatography/Ion‐trap Tandem Mass Spectrometry for the Determination of Chemical Markers of Microorganisms in Organic Dust
Author(s) -
Saraf Anita,
Larsson Lennart
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9888
pISSN - 1076-5174
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9888(199604)31:4<389::aid-jms312>3.0.co;2-h
Subject(s) - chemistry , ion trap , chromatography , mass spectrometry , gas chromatography , tandem , tandem mass spectrometry , gas chromatography–mass spectrometry , environmental chemistry , gas chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry , trap (plumbing) , materials science , environmental engineering , engineering , composite material
Gas chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS) using an ion‐trap instrument was applied for the determination of ergosterol, muramic acid and 3‐hydroxy fatty acids with 10–18 carbon atoms in samples of organic dust. These substances were used as chemical markers to measure fungal biomass, bacterial peptidoglycan and Gram‐negative bacterial lipopolysaccharide, respectively. It was found that detection limits attained with GC/MS/MS were comparable to those reached with conventional quadrupole GC/MS analysis using selected‐ion monitoring, since all markers, analysed as trimethylsilyl derivatives (the fatty acids after methylation of the carboxyl group), were detectable in the low‐picogram range (injected amounts). GC/MS/MS, however, gave results that were easier to interpret owing to the superior detection specificity. Ion trap tandem MS is a convenient technique that should be very useful for the determination of microbial substances in environmental samples, including organic dust.