Quantitative analysis of chemical warfare agent degradation products in beverages by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.
Though chemical warfare agents (CWAs) have been banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention, the threat that such chemicals may be used, including their deliberate addition to food, remains. In such matrixes, CWAs may hydrolyze to phosphonic acids, which are good surrogate markers of CWA contamination. The method described here details the extraction of five CWA degradation products, including methylphosphonic acid (MPA), ethyl-MPA, isopropyl-MPA, cyclohexyl-MPA, and pinacolyl-MPA, from five different beverages by strata-X solid phase extraction cartridges. Samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) with multiple reaction monitoring. The limit of quantitation ranged from 0.05 to 0.5 ng on-column, and the limit of detection was >0.02 ng on-column. Beverages were fortified with the five phosphonic acids at 1 microg/mL and 0.25 microg/mL and quantitated using both an internally standardized method and matrix-matched standards. Reasonable recoveries (>50%) were achieved for ethyl, isopropyl, cyclohexyl, and pinacolyl-MPA for most matrixes.
Owens
Janel
J
Forensic Science Center, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, L-091 Livermore, California 94550, USA. jowens2@uccs.edu
Koester
Carolyn
C
D001628:Beverages / Q000032:analysis*; D002619:Chemical Warfare Agents / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D006868:Hydrolysis; D063065:Organophosphonates / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds / Q000032:analysis; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction / Q000379:methods; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*
D002619:Chemical Warfare Agents; D063065:Organophosphonates; D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds; C032627:methylphosphonic acid