APPLICATION OF GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY AND GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY TANDEM MASS-SPECTROMETRY TO THE ANALYSIS OF CHEMICAL WARFARE SAMPLES, FOUND TO CONTAIN RESIDUES OF THE NERVE AGENT SARIN, SULFUR MUSTARD AND THEIR DEGRADATION PRODUCTS

Samples of clothing, grave debris, soil and munition fragments, collec ted from the Kurdish village of Birjinni, were analysed by GC-MS with selected ion monitoring (SIM) for traces of chemical warfare agents an d their degradation products. Positive analyses were confirmed, where possible, by full scan mass spectra, or at low concentrations by addit ional GC-MS-SIM analysis using chemical ionisation, by higher resoluti on GC-MS-SIM, and by GC-tandem mass spectrometry using multiple reacti on monitoring. Sulphur mustard and/or thiodiglycol were detected in si x soil samples; isopropyl methylphosphonic acid and methylphosphonic a cid, the hydrolysis products of the nerve agent sarin, were detected i n six different soil samples. Trace amounts of intact sarin were detec ted on a painted metal fragment associated with one of these soil samp les. The results demonstrate the application of different GC-MS and GC -MS-MS techniques to the unequivocal identification of chemical warfar e agent residues in the environment at concentrations ranging from low ppb to ppm (w/w). They also provide the first documented unequivocal identification of nerve agent residues in environmental samples collec ted after a chemical attack.