A New Strategy for the Analysis of Steroid Hormones in Industrial Wastewaters by Paper Spray Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Microfluidic sensors for the detection of emerging contaminants in water: A review

In recent years, numerous emerging contaminants have been identified in surface water, groundwater, and drinking water. Developing novel sensing methods for detecting diverse emerging pollutants in water is urgently needed, as even at low concentrations, these pollutants can pose a serious threat to human health and environmental safety. Traditional testing methods are based on laboratory equipment, which is highly sensitive but complex to operate, costly, and not suitable for on-site monitoring. Microfluidic sensors offer several benefits, including rapid evaluation, minimal sample usage, accurate liquid manipulation, compact size, automation, and in-situ detection capabilities. They provide promising and efficient analytical tools for high-performance sensing platforms in monitoring emerging contaminants in water. In this paper, recent research advances in microfluidic sensors for the detection of emerging contaminants in water are reviewed. Initially, a concise overview is provided about the various substrate materials, corresponding microfabrication techniques, different driving forces, and commonly used detection techniques for microfluidic devices. Subsequently, a comprehensive analysis is conducted on microfluidic detection methods for endocrine-disrupting chemicals, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, microplastics, and perfluorinated compounds. Finally, the prospects and future challenges of microfluidic sensors in this field are discussed.

A state-of-art-review on emerging contaminants: Environmental chemistry, health effect, and modern treatment methods

Pollution problems are increasingly becoming e a priority issue from both scientific and technological points of view. The dispersion and frequency of pollutants in the environment are on the rise, leading to the emergence have been increasing, including of a new class of contaminants that not only impact the environment but also pose risks to people's health. Therefore, developing new methods for identifying and quantifying these pollutants classified as emerging contaminants is imperative. These methods enable regulatory actions that effectively minimize their adverse effects to take steps to regulate and reduce their impact. On the other hand, these new contaminants represent a challenge for current technologies to be adapted to control and remove emerging contaminants and involve innovative, eco-friendly, and sustainable remediation technologies. There is a vast amount of information collected in this review on emerging pollutants, comparing the identification and quantification methods, the technologies applied for their control and remediation, and the policies and regulations necessary for their operation and application. In addition, This review will deal with different aspects of emerging contaminants, their origin, nature, detection, and treatment concerning water and wastewater.

Ambient Ionization Mass Spectrometry: Application and Prospective

Mass spectrometry (MS) is a formidable analytical tool for the analysis of non-polar to polar compounds individually and/or from mixtures, providing information on the molecular weights and chemical structures of the analytes. During the last more than one-decade, ambient ionization mass spectrometry (AIMS) has developed quickly, producing a wide range of platforms and proving scientific improvements in a variety of domains, from biological imaging to quick quality control. These methods have made it possible to detect target analytes in real time without sample preparation in an open environment, and they can be connected to any MS system with an atmospheric pressure interface. They also have the ability to analyze explosives, illicit drugs, disease diagnostics, drugs in biological samples, adulterants in food and agricultural products, reaction progress, and environmental monitoring. The development of novel ambient ionization techniques, such as probe electrospray ionization, paper spray ionization, and fiber spray ionization, employed even at picolitre to femtolitre solution levels to provide femtogram to attogram levels of the target analytes. The special characteristic of this ambient ion source, which has been extensively used, is the noninvasive property of PESI of examination of biological real samples. The results in the current review supports the idea that AIMS has emerged as a pioneer in MS-based approaches and that methods will continue to be developed along with improvements to existing ones in the near future.

Assessing organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides in maize samples using MIP extraction and PSI-MS analyzes

The indiscriminate utilization of agrochemicals causes environmental and animal life impacts. In this regard, methodologies have been developed to offer efficiency and quickness for agrochemicals detection. Due to their selectivity and molecular recognition sites, Molecular Imprinted Polymer (MIPs) have been widely employed in some areas, including biotechnology, waste analyses, foodstuff, biological fluids, and others. This work proposed developing a method to determine aminocarb, pirimicarb, dimethoate, omethoate, pyridaphenthion, and fenitrothion pesticides using molecularly imprinted polymer combined with solid-phase extraction (MIP-SPE) for clean-up and paper spray ionization mass spectrometry for their analysis. Extractions analysis for Aminocarb, Pirimicarb, and Omethoate using MIP-SPE showed better performance when compared with MIP and NIP. The R ² values were found with R ² > 0.98 for all pesticides, and LODs and LOQs values were 50 and 100 µg kg^-1, respectively. The precision and accuracy were assessed at three concentration levels-low, medium, and high. The precision values (interday and intraday) were below 10%, and the variation of recovery was between 80 and 120% for all pesticides. Therefore, it was possible to verify the presence of two carbamates and five organophosphorus without the necessity of preconcentration samples with precision and good recovery.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-022-05464-7.

Direct analysis of naphthenic acids in produced water and crude oil by NH2-surface-modified wooden-tip electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

This work describes the surface coating of wooden toothpicks with amino groups (NH₂) for electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of naphthenic acids (NAs) in produced water samples and crude oil fractions. NH₂ was introduced into the cellulosic material through a silanization reaction using aminopropyltriethoxysilane. An NH₂-modified toothpick was inserted into the analyte extraction sample and was subsequently used as an electrospray emitter for MS analysis. The extraction conditions were optimized by analyzing NAs (benzoic acid, 1-naphthoic acid, decanoic acid, 3,5-dimethyladamantane-1-carboxylic acid, and 3,5-dimethyladamantane-1-acetic acid) in pure water, and the best condition was using 5 min of extraction time with the samples under agitation. Modified and unmodified wooden toothpicks were compared, and the intensities of all NAs were higher when using the modified substrates than when using the unmodified ones. Limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), linearity, precision, and recovery were determined by analyzing decanoic acid in seawater samples. The LOD and LOQ were 2 and 5 μg mL^-1, respectively, and a linear correlation (R² = 0.9927) was obtained with concentrations ranging from 5 to 250 μg mL^-1. Precision values ranged from 6 to 13% and recoveries from 89 to 106%. The technique was also employed to analyze three produced water samples, in which decanoic acid was semi-quantified, and the concentrations ranged from 10 to 13 μg mL^-1. High abundances of acidic compounds of class O2 with DBEs (double bond equivalents) ranging from 1 to 3 and carbon numbers going from 8 to 12 were detected in the produced water samples. The results suggest that the modification of wooden toothpicks with NH₂ might offer a significant advancement in the knowledge of cheap substrates that can improve the sensitivity of analysis of NAs in water samples.

Combining the Katritzky Reaction and Paper Spray Ionization Mass Spectrometry for Enhanced Detection of Amino Acid Neurotransmitters in Mouse Brain Sections

This work describes the development of a system that combines a derivatization protocol based on the Katritzky reaction with paper spray ionization mass spectrometry (PSI-MS) for the analysis of amino acid neurotransmitters in mouse brain tissues. The system is relatively simple, consisting of spraying the derivatization solution onto a mouse brain section mounted on a glass slide, applying a small volume of solvent to moisten the sample, pressing a triangular paper onto the sample surface to transfer the sample constituents to the paper surface, and using the paper as a substrate for PSI-MS analysis. The Katritzky reaction facilitated the ionization of the amino acids by reacting a pyrylium salt with the amino group of the analytes, forming very stable pyridinium cations, which greatly increased the sensitivity of the PSI-MS analysis. Most of the intensities of the amino acids modified by the Katritzky reaction were more than 10 times greater than the nonderivatized ones. The system was applied for the analysis of brain sections obtained from mice with Parkinson's disease, and the amino acids gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glycine (Gly), two compounds very well-known in studies of Parkinson's disease, were readily detected. The results suggest that the Katritzky reaction combined with PSI-MS might offer a significant advance in the knowledge on protocols that improve the sensitivity of detection of crucial biological compounds.

Eco-friendly multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares and chromatographic quantifications of some veterinary drug residues in pharmaceutical industrial wastewater

Three eco-friendly and cost-effective analytical methods were developed and optimized for quantitative analysis of some veterinary drug residues in production wastewater samples. The studied drugs were ivermectin, rafoxanide and sulfadimidine. A solid-phase extraction procedure was employed using Bond Elut C18 cartridges, prior to analysis. The first method was a chemometric approach called multivariate curve resolution - alternating least squares (MCR-ALS). A calibration model was developed and several figures of merit (RMSEP, SEP, bias, RE%) were calculated. The second method was a thin layer chromatography followed by densitometric measurements at 245 nm. The separation was performed using silica gel 60 F254 plates and ethyl acetate : acetonitrile : toluene : ammonia (20 : 3 : 2 : 1, by volume) as a developing system. The third method was a high performance liquid chromatographic separation on HiQsil C18 HS column with UV detection at 245 nm. The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile : methanol : water (60 : 25 : 15, by volume), with a flow rate of 1.5 mL min-1. The proposed methods were validated according to ICH guidelines. The described procedures were applied to quantify the studied drug residues in synthetic and real industrial wastewater samples. The proposed methods were statistically compared with the official and the reported methods, showing no significant difference with respect to accuracy and precision at P = 0.05.