Abstract
Electrochemistry (EC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) has already been successfully applied to metabolism research for pharmaceutical applications, especially for the oxidation behaviour of drug substances. Xenobiotics (chemicals in the environment) also undergo various conversions; some of which are oxidative reactions. Therefore, EC-MS might be a suitable tool for the investigation of oxidative behaviour of xenobiotics. A further evaluation of this approach to environmental research is presented in the present paper using sulfonamide antibiotics. The results with sulfadiazine showed that EC-MS is a powerful tool for the elucidation of the oxidative degradation mechanism within a short time period. In addition, it was demonstrated that EC-MS can be used as a fast and easy method to model the chemical binding of xenobiotics to soil. The reaction of sulfadiazine with catechol, as a model substance for organic matter in soil, led to the expected chemical structure. Finally, by using EC-MS a first indication was obtained of the persistence of a component under chemical oxidation conditions for the comparison of the oxidative stability of different classes of xenobiotics. Overall, using just a few examples, the study demonstrates that EC-MS can be applied as a versatile tool for mechanistic studies of oxidative degradation pathways of xenobiotics and their possible interaction with soil organic matter as well as their oxidative stability in the environment. Further studies are needed to evaluate the full range of possibilities of the application of EC-MS in environmental research.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kennedy JF, Turan N (1998) Metabolic Pathways of Agrochemicals: Parts 1 and 2. Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge
McNeill K, Boreen AL, Arnold WA (2005) Environ Sci Technol 39:3630–3638
Zhang L, Xu C, Chen Z, Li X, Li P (2010) J Hazard Mater 173:168–172
Klausen J, Haderlein SB, Schwarzenbach RP (1997) Environ Sci Technol 31:2642–2649
Zhang C, Wang L, Pan G, Wu F, Deng N, Mailhot G, Mestankova H, Bolte M (2009) J Hazard Mater 169:772–779
Barth JAC, Steidle D, Kuntz D, Gocht T, Mouvet C, von Tümpling W, Lobe I, Langenhoff A, Albrechtsen HJ, Janniche GS, Morasch B, Hunkeler D, Grathwohl P (2007) Sci Total Environ 376:40–50
Barriuso E, Benoit P, Dubus IG (2008) Environ Sci Technol 42:1845–1854
Zhang M, Smyser BP, Shalaby LM, Boucher CR, Berg DS (1999) J Agric Food Chem 47:3843–3849
Winton K, Weber JB (1996) Weed Technol 10:202–209
Houot S, Topp E, Yassir A, Soulas G (2000) Soil Biol Biochem 32:615–625
Spiteller M, Lamshöft M, Sukul P, Zühlke S (2007) Anal Bioanal Chem 388:1733–1745
Wilber G, Wang G (1997) J Air Waste Manage Assoc 47:690–696
Karst U (2004) Angew Chem Int Ed 43:2476–2478
Blankert B, Hayen H, van Leeuwen SM, Karst U (2005) Electroanalysis 17:1501–1510
Baumann A, Lohmann W, Schubert B, Oberacher H, Karst U (2009) J Chromatogr A 1216:3192–3198
Jurva U, Johansson T, Weidolf L (2007) Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 21:2323–2331
Lohmann W, Dötzer R, Gütter G, Van Leeuwen SM, Karst U (2009) J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 20:138–145
Waterston K, Wang J, Bejan D, Bunce N (2006) J Appl Electrochem 36:227–232
Zhao G, Pang Y, Liu L, Gao J, Lv B (2010) J Hazard Mater 179:1078–1083
Balci B, Oturan N, Cherrier R, Oturan MA (2009) Water Res 43:1924–1934
Jablonowski ND, Köppchen S, Hofmann D, Schäffer A, Burauel P (2009) Environ Pollut 157:2126–2131
Seifrtová M, Nováková L, Lino C, Pena A, Solich P (2009) Anal Chim Acta 649:158–179
Jurva U (2004) Ph.D. Thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Groningen.
Sukul P, Spiteller M, Lamshöft M, Zühlke S (2008) Chemosphere 71:717–725
Pfeifer T, Tuerk J, Fuchs R (2005) J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 16:1687–1694
Momberg A, Carrera ME, von Baer D, Bruhn C, Smyth MR (1984) Anal Chim Acta 159:119–127
Hartig C (2000) Analytik, Vorkommen und Verhalten aromatischer Sulfonamide in der aquatischen Umwelt. Ph.D. thesis, TU Berlin, Berlin
Zhou W, Moore DE (1994) Int J Pharm 110:55–63
Bollag J-M, Myers CJ, Minard RD (1992) Sci Total Environ 123–124:205–217
Bialk HM, Simpson AJ, Pedersen JA (2005) Environ Sci Technol 39:4463–4473
Bialk HM, Pedersen JA (2008) Environ Sci Technol 42:106–112
Jablonowski ND, Koeppchen S, Hofmann D, Schaeffer A, Burauel P (2008) J Agric Food Chem 56:9548–9554
Capriel P, Haisch A (1983) J Plant Nutr Soil Sci 146:474–480
Takáts Z, Vargha M, Vékey K (2001) Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 15:1735–1742
Acknowledgements
Fruitful discussions with Uwe Karst and Anne Baumann, both University of Münster, and also with Hans Lewandowski, Hans-Dieter Narres and Jean-Marie Sequaris, all Agrosphere Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, are gratefully acknowledged.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hoffmann, T., Hofmann, D., Klumpp, E. et al. Electrochemistry-mass spectrometry for mechanistic studies and simulation of oxidation processes in the environment. Anal Bioanal Chem 399, 1859–1868 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-010-4575-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-010-4575-x