RAPID TARGET ANALYSIS BY ONLINE SINGLE SHORT-COLUMN LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY THERMOSPRAY TANDEM MASS-SPECTROMETRY

The feasibility of on-line sample pretreatment and separation on a sin gle short-column liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS /MS) system is tested for target analysis of triazines in surface wate r, In this approach, the chromatographic separation is reduced to a mi nimum, primarily aiming at resolving the peaks of interest from the so lvent front and other disturbing interferences, Preliminary experiment s with a thermospray interface allowed the detection of triazines down to the 1 mu g/L level by analyzing 48 mL of spiked surface water, Goo d linearity in the range of 1-10 mu g/L and relative standard deviatio ns better than 8% indicate the practicability of the single short-colu mn LC/MS/MS approach.