COMPLEMENTARY USE OF CAPILLARY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY (ION-TRAP) AND GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY FOR THE SPECIATION OF VOLATILE ANTIMONY, TIN AND BISMUTH COMPOUNDS IN LANDFILL AND FERMENTATION GASES

ICP-MS is very sensitive and has limited matrix effects when used as a n element-specific detector for GC in order to identify volatile metal or metalloid species, GC-MS is not very sensitive or selective in the electron ionization (EI) mode, but provides molecular information abo ut volatile species. In this work, an ion trap EI-MS-MS and an ICP-MS system were used as two different detectors for the same GC system to provide complementary information about volatile organometallic specie s in the complex matrices of landfill and sewage sludge fermentation g ases. A simple robust GC separation method with cryotrapping was adequ ate for the separation of the different metal(loid) containing volatil e compounds, and was directly coupled to the ICP-MS system, In additio n, gas samples from this GC system were collected in evacuated vials. These fractions were further separated on a capillary column and detec ted in an ion trap mass spectrometer. For the first time, parent ions, fragmentation patterns, isotopic ratios for Sb and Sn, and MS-MS data were used to identify positively Me3Sb, Me4Sn and Et2Me2Sn in landfil l gas and Me3Sb and Me3Bi in fermentation gas.