Ld. Betowski et al., CHARACTERIZATION OF GROUNDWATER SAMPLES FROM SUPERFUND SITES BY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY AND LIQUID CHROMATAGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY, Environmental science & technology, 30(12), 1996, pp. 3558-3564
Groundwater at or near Superfund sites often contains much organic mat
ter, as indicated by total organic carbon (TOC) measurements. Analyses
by standard GC and GC/MS methodology often miss the more polar or non
volatile of these organic compounds. The identification of the highly
polar or ionic compounds may be needed to assess toxicity more reliabl
y, to plan remediation, and to establish the possible source of a wast
e and the responsible party. This study characterized water samples fr
om two Superfund sites for organic components where routine methods ha
d failed to account for a majority of the TOC. Carboxylic acids, alcoh
ols, and ketones were detected by GC/MS using a new capillary column d
esigned for polar organic compounds. Particle beam LC/MS allowed for i
dentifying several additional compounds. Finally, thermospray LC/MS wa
s shown to be an excellent means of detecting ionic constituents, such
as aromatic sulfonic acids, in the water samples.