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Real‐time trace detection and identification of chemical warfare agent simulants using recent advances in proton transfer reaction time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry
Author(s) -
Petersson Fredrik,
Sulzer Philipp,
Mayhew Chris A.,
Watts Peter,
Jordan Alfons,
Märk Lukas,
Märk Tilmann D.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.4334
Subject(s) - dimethyl methylphosphonate , chemistry , mass spectrometry , chemical warfare agents , analytical chemistry (journal) , chromatography , organic chemistry , biochemical engineering , engineering
This work demonstrates for the first time the potential of using recent developments in proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry for the rapid detection and identification of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) in real‐time. A high‐resolution (m/Δm up to 8000) and high‐sensitivity (∼50 cps/ppbv) proton transfer reaction time‐of‐flight mass spectrometer (PTR‐TOF 8000 from Ionicon Analytik GmBH) has been successfully used to detect a number of CWA simulants at room temperature; namely dimethyl methylphosphonate, diethyl methylphosphonate, diisopropyl methylphosphonate, dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether and 2‐chloroethyl ethyl sulfide. Importantly, we demonstrate in this paper the potential to identify CWAs with a high level of confidence in complex chemical environments, where multiple threat agents and interferents could also be present in trace amounts, thereby reducing the risk of false positives. Instantaneous detection and identification of trace quantities of chemical threats using proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry could form the basis for a timely warning system capability with greater precision and accuracy than is currently provided by existing analytical technologies. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.