Identification of two novel brominated contaminants in water samples by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-Orbitrap Fusion Tribrid mass spectrometer.

Tetrabromobisphenol A mono(2-hydroxyethyl ether) (TBBPA-MHEE) and TBBPA mono(glycidyl ether) (TBBPA-MGE), two impurities of TBBPA derivatives, were hypothesized to be novel brominated contaminants with potential toxicity. However, due to lacking of analytical method and pure standards, their environmental behavior and toxicity have not been studied. Herein we developed a sensitive method based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-Orbitrap Fusion Tribrid mass spectrometer (UHPLC-Orbitrap Fusion TMS) for simultaneous detection of TBBPA-MHEE and TBBPA-MGE in water samples. The sample pretreatment method and the experimental conditions of UHPLC and Orbitrap Fusion TMS, were optimized in detail. The instrument detection limits (IDLs) for TBBPA-MHEE and TBBPA-MGE were 0.5pg and 0.6pg, respectively. The method detection limits (MDLs) for TBBPA-MHEE and TBBPA-MGE in river water samples were 0.9 and 0.8ng/L. With the proposed method, we were able to detect TBBPA-MHEE and TBBPA-MGE for the first time in water samples and technical products of TBBPA derivatives. Therefore, UHPLC-Orbitrap Fusion TMS is a simple and effective tool for identification and quantification of novel contaminants in the environment.