title: Determination of sarin, soman and their hydrolysis products in soil by packed capillary liquid chromatography-electrospray mass spectrometry.
abstract: An analytical method based on aqueous ultrasonic extraction and packed capillary liquid chromatography-electrospray mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) analysis was developed and compared to an existing gas chromatography(GC)-MS based method for the determination of sarin, soman and their hydrolysis products in contaminated soil. Three soils, a red clay, a tan sandy clay and a brown sandy clay loam, were spiked with sarin and soman and their initial hydrolysis products, isopropyl methylphosphonic acid and pinacolyl methylphosphonic acid, at the 10 microg/g level to assess recovery efficiency. Recovery of sarin and soman from the aqueous soil extracts was comparable to the existing analytical method, with a significant improvement in recovery being demonstrated for the chemical warfare agent hydrolysis products. Sarin and soman were recovered in the 20-90% range from the three soil types with aqueous extraction, while the hydrolysis products of these chemical warfare agents were extracted with recoveries in excess of 80%. The developed soil extraction and analysis method appears to be an attractive alternative to the GC-MS based method, since aqueous extracts containing chemical warfare agent hydrolysis products may be analysed directly, eliminating the need for additional sample handling and derivatization steps.
authors.affiliation: Defence Research Establishment Suffield, Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: D'Agostino
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Hancock
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Provost
mesh_terms: D002619:Chemical Warfare Agents / Q000032:analysis*; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D006868:Hydrolysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012524:Sarin / Q000032:analysis*; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis*; D012999:Soman / Q000032:analysis*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D002619:Chemical Warfare Agents; D012987:Soil; D012999:Soman; D012524:Sarin