CHARACTERIZATION OF GROUNDWATER SAMPLES FROM SUPERFUND SITES BY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY AND LIQUID CHROMATAGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

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.