LASER-DESORPTION FOURIER-TRANSFORM MASS-SPECTROMETRY OF TRIAZINES ADSORBED ON SOLID-PHASE EXTRACTION MEMBRANES

Until the present, analysis of aqueous solutions of atrazine has been conducted using a combination of liquid chromatography or gas chromato graphy with mass spectrometry, after a preconcentration step. We explo re herein a new approach for studying support-phase-extracted atrazine and hydroxyatrazine samples. Solid-phase extraction membranes are ins erted directly into the cell of a Fourier-transform mass spectrometer for analysis after laser ionization. It appears that atrazine and its metabolite have very different ionization processes. In the case of hy droxyatrazine, the [M + H]+ ion signal can be correlated to the concen tration of the extracted solution. These encouraging results might ope n the route to a quantification method.