Application Notes: Environmental

With the recent legalization of cannabis in several states, there is a growing need for robust, reliable, and cost-effective analytical methods to facilitate routine testing for potency and contaminants. Here we present an LC–MS/MS method that uses the budget-friendly SCIEX Triple Quad 3500 LC–MS/MS system for the simultaneous detection and quantification of cannabinoids, pesticides, and mycotoxins in cannabis products using the Scheduled MRM algorithm.

Drinking water is an important part of environmental exposure, especially for small children. Countries around the world have put regulations in place to monitor drinking water quality for a wide range of hazardous compounds.

By switching to a Raptor C18 column, labs can process more samples per hour while still meeting fluorochemical method requirements.

Determination of PBDE congeners can be performed at high sensitivity with good accuracy using the GCMS-TQ8050.

Disinfection by-products (DBP) are an ever-present nuisance in the efforts to purify drinking water, wastewater, and municipal waters from various sources.

Initial precision was demonstrated by spiking four 1-L volumes with one Snip and Pour pre-measured standard, each (40 mg). The data for four replicates was collected for 47 mm Disks and 100 mm Disks. The average percent recovery is excellent and meets the criterion specified of 83–101% HEM recovery for both size disks. The standard deviation is better than the criterion specified of 11% for HEM.

Hamilton PRP-X100 and PRP-X110 are the perfect solution for anion analysis in water or environmental samples. The robust design and covalent surface modification of the packing material lead to a highly increased lifetime as compared to the competition. The production process is compliant to ISO 9001 ensuring an outstanding column-to-column and lot-to-lot reproducibility.

This automated SPE methodology is a solution that will reduce analyst labor, solvent usage, and turn-around-time while maintaining the high quality results required within today's laboratories.

The US EPA has implemented an exposure research program aimed at conducting drinking water research on methods as part of the Microbiological and Chemical Exposure Assessment. This research is aimed at evaluating the chemical pollutants and their role and levels in which there is an unacceptable risk to either humans or wildlife, as well as evaluating the methodologies currently being used to determine levels of chemical pollutants.

Diesel range organics or DRO is the cumulative analysis of extractable alkanes between the ranges C10 through C28 as measured on a flame ionization detector.

This project will evaluate the performance and versatility of the AutoMate-Q40 for the extraction of Imidazolinone herbicides.

Analysis of chromium species is made challenging due to the nature of the element and diverse sample matrices

Disinfection by-products (DBP) are an ever-present nuisance in the efforts to purify drinking water, wastewater, and municipal waters from various sources. An emerging class of DBP compounds with health effects is nitrosamines which result from chloramination or chlorination if the water is nitrogen-rich. Five of these nitrosamines have been listed on the US EPA’s new Contaminant Candidate List (CCL-3). Of the nitrosamines, the most common and problematic is N-nitrosdimethylamine (NDMA). The maximum admissible levels set by the US EPA are 7 ng/L for NDMA and 2 ng/L for N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA).

Generally speaking, chromate - Cr(VI) - is classified as allergenic, carcinogenic, and extremely toxic and is subject to strict monitoring. Cr(VI) can occur in various concentrations in different areas, for example, drinking water, toys, or textile and leather products. Metrohm has developed ion chromatographic determination methods for determining Cr(VI) in various concentration ranges (ng/L to mg/L) with inline sample preparation techniques for various matrices. The method can be almost entirely automated. In the following application note, we present the analysis of hexavalent chromium in toys, leather, and drinking water.

Rigorous conditioning of sorbent tubes is an essential part of any sampling and analysis protocol. This application note will explore the cost savings and productivity enhancements that can be made by off-line conditioning, rather than on‑line with the thermal desorber itself. In particular, we will focus on the revenue resulting from running more analytical samples, the cost-effectiveness of increasing sample capacity by this approach, and the benefits that stem from using nitrogen rather than helium.

Used extensively from the 1940s through the 1960s, organochlorine pesticides are chlorinated hydrocarbons used in agriculture and mosquito control. The organochlorine pesticides accumulate in the environment, presenting an ongoing issue with adsorption and accumulation in the population as a result of ingestion.

This method increases sensitivity and reduces data acquisition time for a subset of pharmaceuticals and personal care products from the original EPA Method 1694 specifications.

Organochlorine pesticides are among the more notorious organic pollutants. Gaining wide spread attention into the latter part of the 20th century, and ultimately leading to their ban, OCPs remain with us as a legacy contaminant in the environment.

US EPA wastewater method 624 Purgeables was originally published as 40 CFR Part 136 Appendix A in the mid 1980s.