Analysis and identification of pesticides and their transformation products in groundwater by High Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Abstract : Nowadays it is increasingly important for public policy to know what compounds are present in groundwater, which of them must be monitored and their fate . Thus, specific analytical methodology is required to identify these micropollutants, including emer ging substances or transformation products (TPs) potentially present at low concentrations. To improve limit of detection , POCIS (Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Sampler) were used as passive samplers for the pre - concentration of polar compounds. High Res olution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS) offer ing the possibility of detecting a large number of contaminants without pre - selection of analytes due to its accurate - mass full - spectrum acquisition was also applied . The combination of these two techniques carried out o n s everal groundwater sampled monthly confirms the advantage of i) improvement of organic chemical screening with POCIS and ii) identification of non - targeted organic compounds with HRMS technique. Several p esticides and some of their transformation products were detected for the first time in these sites .