Table 1.
Recent studies that employ GC–API–MS techniques for (non)targeted analysis of environmental pollutants.
| Sample | Detector | (Non)Targeted Chemicals | Method Merits | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| APCI | Food packaging materials | QTOF, HP-5MS | Acrylic adhesives including 2-methyl-1,2-thiazol-3(2H)-one, 5-chloro-2-methyl-1,2-thiazol-3(2H)-one and 1,2-benzothiazol-3(2H)-one | [36] | |
| APCI | Polyurethane foam disks (PUFs), food, and marine samples | Xevo TQ-S QQQ | Hexabromocyclododecane | IDL: 0.10 pg/μL RSD: <7% |
[37] |
| APCI | Surface water, groundwater, wastewater | Pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), fragrances, musks, antimicrobials, insect repellents, UV filters, polychloronaphthalenes (PCNs) | [38] | ||
| APCI | Indoor air sample | QTOF, HP-1-MS | volatile, intermediate-volatility, and semivolatile organic compound | LOD: 10~100 ppq | [39] |
| APCI | Chinese mitten crab food webs | Xevo TQ-XS QQQ, DB-5MS | PCBs (mono-to deca-) and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) | RSD: PCBs: 3.4%~15.5%; PCDD/Fs: 1.7%~7.9% LOD: PCBs: 0.021~0.150 pg/mL; PCDD/Fs: 0.051~0.237 pg/mL |
[40] |
| APCI | Standard Reference Material (SRM 2585) of household dust | QTOF | 191 POPs including PCBs and agricultural drug residues, such as chlordane and degradation products of DDT and Fentichlor, polychlorinated and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PCDEs and PBDEs), other brominated flame retardants such as tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and bis(2-ethylhexyl) tetrabromophthalate (BEHTBP), chlorine-containing organophosphate flame retardants tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl)phosphate (2 isomers), tris(2-chloroisopropyl)phosphate and tris(2-chloroethyl)phosphate | [41] | |
| APCI | Electronic waste dust | Q-TOF DB5-HT |
52 brominated, chlorinated, and organophosphorus compounds identified by suspect screening; 15 unique elemental compositions identified using NTS with 17 chemicals confirmed using standards | [20] | |
| APCI | Low sulfonate lignin | Q-TOF TOF |
59 lignin pyrolysis products were positively identified, with 10 chemicals confirmed using standards | [42] | |
| APCI | Urine Blood |
QTOF DB- 5MS |
Illicit psychostimulant drugs | [43,44] | |
| APGC | Low-temperature coal tar sample and its distillation products | TQ-S DB-35 MS |
Phenolic compounds (phenols, indanols, naphthols, and benzenediols) | [45] | |
| APGC | Human serums | Xevo TQ-S | Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and PCBs | RSD: <15% | [46] |
| APCI | Urine samples | QTOF | α-pyrrolidinovalerophenone metabolites | [47] | |
| APGC | Food | FT-ICR, Rtx-1614 | Halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) | Recovery: 59~115%; RSD: 5–15%; IQL: 1~5 pg/g; MQL: 0.002~0.04 ng/g | [48] |
| APCI | Urine | QQQ, HP Ultra 1 | Exogenous androgenic anabolic steroids | RSD: 15–25% Most LOD: below 0.5 ng/ mL |
[49] |
| APGC | Seal and egg samples | Xevo TQ-S QQQ, Rtx-1614 | PBDEs, their methoxylated derivatives (MeO-PBDEs) and other emerging (brominated flame retardants) BFRs | RSD: <1. IDL: emerging BFRs, BDE 209 and MeO-PBDEs mixtures: 0.075~0.1 pg/µL; Br1–9 PBDEs mixtures: 0.625~6.25 pg/µL | [50] |
| APGC | Air fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) | Xevo TQ-S QQQ | Nitro-polyaromatic hydrocarbons | IDL: (0.20~2.18 pg/mL MDL: 0.001~0.015 pg/m3; Recovery: 70%~120% |
[51] |
| APGC | Urine samples | Xevo G2-XS QTOF, DB-17+ custom MXT | 1-Hydroxypyrene, 3-hydroxyphenanthrene, 9-hydroxyfluorene | 1-Hydroxypyrene LOD: 0.64 ng/L, LOQ 2.16 ng/L; average CV: 11.5% |
[52] |
| APGC | Simulated burn study samples (household and electronics), Particulate matter coating the firefighter’s helmets |
Xevo TQ-S, Rtx Dioxin-2 | Polyhalogenated dibenzo-p-dioxins/dibenzofurans (PXDD/Fs) and polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins/dibenzofurans (PBDD/Fs) | total levels of each halogenated homologue group: parts per billion | [53] |
| APGC | Fish, dust | Xevo TQ-S, Rtx Dioxin-2 | Soil: MDL: 0.15~1.4 pg/g, RSD < 11% Fish: 0.21~2.0 pg/g, RSD < 33% |
[54] | |
| APGC | Food and feed | Orbitrap, DB-5MS | Polychlorinated dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls | S/N: 753 for 40 fg on column Average RSD: 9.8% |
[55] |
| APCI | Dust | Xevo G2-XS qTOF, DB-5 HT | 40 PBDEs and 25 emerging HFRs | LOD: HFRs: 0.65 (0.016~9.1) pg/ μL; PBDE: 0.17 (0.0123~2.5) pg μL |
[56] |
| APPI | Drug solutions | HR-LTQ Orbitrap, SLB-5 ms | Triazines and organophosphorus pesticides, PAHs, Drugs (diazepam and methadone) |
Pesticide: average 3 pg/mL PAH: 0.1 pg/mL Drugs: average 30 pg/mL |
[57] |
| APPI | Derivazation | oaTOF | Amines, alcohols, carboxylic acids | LOD: pmol~attmol | [58] |
| APPI | River water, tap water | HRMS (Q-Orbitrap) | fluorotelomer olefins (FTOs), fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs), fluoroctanesulfonamides (FOSAs) and sulfonamidoethanols (FOSEs) | LOD: 0.02–15 ng/L; RSD% < 11 | [59] |
| APPI | Fruit and vegetable samples | QTOF | 416 pesticides 416 pesticides | [60] | |
| APLI | Human urine | TOF, DB-35 | Trans-anti-benzo[a]pyrene-tetraol (BaP-tetraol) (PAH biomarker) | IOD of 0.5 fg | [61] |
| APLI | Rocks | HR TOF, RXI-PAH | Triaromatic steroids | LOD: retene: 25 fg on column | [62] |
| APLI | Coastal and harbor water | HR TOF, RXI-PAH | 48 PAHs (alkylated PAHs in suspected target analysis) | Recovery rate: 60.7% to 157.0%, mean 92.1% | [63] |
| APLI | Reference materials (urban dust, organics in marine sediment, fresh water harbor sediment, and contaminated soil from a former gas plant site) and environment samples (bituminous coal, suspended particulate matter from river and pine needles) |
HR TOF, RXI-PAH | 59 PAHs | Recovery: 34%~102%, median, 80% mean 78% LODs: 5~50 fg/μL |
[64] |
| ESI | Human urine | LTQ Orbitrap QQQ Ultra-1 | Trimethylsilyl (TMS) derivatives of steroids | LOD 0.5~10 ng/mL | [65] |
| ESI | Soil | QQQ, DB-EUPAH | PAHs | LOD 0.002~10 μg/mL | [66] |
LOD: limit of detection. MD(Q)L: method detection (qualification) limit. ID(Q)L: instrument detection (qualification) limit. CV: coefficient of variance.