Abstract
A simple and sensitive method has been developed and validated for determining ethyl methylphosphonic acid (EMPA), isopropyl methylphosphonic acid (IMPA), isobutyl methylphosphonic acid (iBuMPA), and pinacolyl methylphosphonic acid (PMPA) in human urine using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) coupled with solid phase derivatization (SPD). These four alkyl methylphosphonic acids (AMPAs) are specific hydrolysis products and biomarkers of exposure to classic organophosphorus (OP) nerve agents VX, sarin, RVX, and soman. The AMPAs in urine samples were directly derivatized with pentafluorobenzyl bromide on a solid support and then extracted by liquid–liquid extraction. The analytes were quantified with isotope-dilution by negative chemical ionization (NCI) GC-MS/MS in a selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. This method is highly sensitive, with the limits of detection of 0.02 ng/mL for each compound in a 0.2 mL sample of human urine, and an excellent linearity from 0.1 to 50 ng/mL. It is proven to be very suitable for the qualitative and quantitative analyses of degradation markers of OP nerve agents in biomedical samples.
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This work was supported by National Science and Technology Major Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (grant No.2012ZX09301003-001-010).
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Published in the topical collection Analysis of Chemicals Relevant to the Chemical Weapons Convention with guest editors Marc-Michael Blum and R. V. S. Murty Mamidanna.
Ying Lin and Jia Chen contributed equally to this work.
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Lin, Y., Chen, J., Yan, L. et al. Determination of nerve agent metabolites in human urine by isotope-dilution gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry after solid phase supported derivatization. Anal Bioanal Chem 406, 5213–5220 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-014-7695-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-014-7695-x