title: Determination of trace level chemical warfare agents in water and slurry samples using hollow fibre-protected liquid-phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
abstract: A simple and solvent-minimised sample preparation technique based on hollow fibre-protected liquid-phase microextraction was investigated for the gas chromatography/mass spectrometric analysis of chemical warfare agents in water and slurry samples. The chemical warfare agents included four nerve agents and a blister agent. Parameters such as extraction solvent, salt concentration, stirring speed and extraction time were optimised using spiked deionised water samples. The technique provided a linear range of two orders of magnitude, good repeatability (RSDs < 10%, n = 6), good linearity (r2 >or= 0.995) and limits of detection (LODs) in the range of 0.02-0.09 microg l(-1) (S/N = 3) under full scan mode. The optimised technique was also applied to more complex slurry samples and similar precision (RSD < 15%, n = 3) and limits of detection (0.02-0.2 microgl(-1), S/N = 3) were obtained.
authors.affiliation: DSO National Laboratories, Singapore.
authors.forename: Hoi Sim Nancy
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chanbasha
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Basheer
authors.forename: Hain Kee
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D002619:Chemical Warfare Agents / Q000032:analysis*; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D002619:Chemical Warfare Agents