Determination of polar organophosphorus pesticides in aqueous samples by direct injection using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

It was demonstrated that four out of six of the very polar organophosphorus pesticides (OPs), i.e. acephate, methamidophos, monocrotophos, omethoate, oxydemeton-methyl and vamidothion, could not be extracted from water using commonly available SPE cartridges. In addition, GC analysis on all six compounds was found to be troublesome due to their polar and thermolabile character. This initiated the development of an alternative highly sensitive and selective method for the determination of the above mentioned very polar OPs in water, based on LC–MS. Large volume (1 ml) water samples were directly injected onto an RP18 HPLC column with a polar endcapping. The latter was essential for obtaining retention and maintaining column performance under 100% aqueous conditions during the sampling. The compounds were ionized using atmospheric pressure chemical ionization and detected on a tandem mass spectrometer operated in multiple reaction-monitoring mode. The detection limits were in the range of 0.01–0.03 μg/l. Compared to conventional GC methods, the developed LC–MS procedure is very straightforward, fast and more reliable. This application demonstrates the applicability of LC–MS for analysis of polar OPs in surface, ground and drinking water, as a more favourable alternative to GC.