High pressure liquid chromatograph coupled with Tandem ion trap and time flow mass detector

近年来，有机痕量污染物的研究越来越受到人们的关注，特别是其对健康和环境的影响。在包括食品、饮用水和人体组织在内的所有环境分区中都发现了痕量浓度的农药和药物。已经在生态系统层面描述了影响，特别是在水生生物中，而且已经在脊椎动物和人类细胞中描述了影响。特别令人担忧的是，在远低于已知效应浓度的单独浓度下发生的物质的协同效应。然而，这些微量物质的影响往往是未知的，或者到目前为止还不能进行适当的研究。因此，BTU新成立的第二部门将这些化合物的环境行为和健康影响的研究确定为其主要研究课题之一。许多痕量物质在环境中的行为至今没有或没有完全了解。代谢产物和降解产物有时会被分析，但在大多数情况下，其对环境和健康影响的作用尚不清楚。这通常是由于缺乏有效的分析方法来跟踪痕量浓度的降解机制。LS“水处理生物技术”从事有机磷化合物的环境行为研究。总除草剂草甘膦是这一组的众所周知的代表，这是目前公众辩论的主题。 尽管此类膦酸酯不仅用于农业，而且用于工业，特别是用于家庭应用，但其在环境中的行为，特别是其降解情况知之甚少。缺乏知识的一个原因是复杂的分析，这只能通过LC/MS / MS或LC/ICP-MS获得，并且最近仅在德国的少数实验室中进行。由于缺乏合适的设备和方法，许多代谢物的鉴定至今未能成功。LC/MS-IT-TOF仪器首次将离子阱的高灵敏度与时间流技术的质量精度相结合。该设备为痕量物质的鉴定提供了新的可能性，是对现有技术的重要补充，如GC/MS、LC/MS和NMR以及用于富集有机化合物的高效方法和程序。借助这一新技术，可以对环境行为和痕量物质的影响获得新的见解，这些物质迄今为止还没有或没有得到有效的分析。这一新设备还将用于进一步将环境和健康研究联系起来。

The recent research becomes more and more focused to organic trace contaminants and in particular to its effects to health and environment. Trace concentrations of pesticides and pharmaceuticals have been found in all environmental compartments including food products, drinking water and human tissues. Effects have been described at ecosystem level, especially in aquatic organisms, but also already in vertebrates - and human cells. Particularly worrisome are synergistic effects of substances occurring at individual concentrations far less known effect concentrations. However, the effects of such trace substances are often unknown or can not be studied properly so far. Therefore, the newly-founded Department 2 of the BTU has defined the research on environmental behavior and health effects of these compounds as one of its main research topics. The behavior of many trace substances in the environment is not or not completely understood so far. Metabolites and degradation products have been sometimes analyzed, but its role for environmental and health effects are in most cases unclear. This is often caused by lacking efficient analytical methods to follow degradation mechanisms at trace concentrations. The LS "Biotechnology of water treatment", is engaged e.g. in the investigation of the environmental behavior of organic phosphorus compounds. The total herbicide glyphosate is a well known representative of this group, that is currently subject of the public debate. Although such phosphonates are produced in large quantities not only for agricultural, but also for industrial and in particular for household applications, where is only very little known about its behavior in the environment and especially about its degradation. One reason for that lack in knowledge is the complicated analytics, which is only available by LC/MS / MS or LC/ICP-MS and is recently done in only a few laboratories in Germany. The identification of many metabolites fails so far due to the lack of suitable equipment and methods. The LC/MS-IT-TOF instrument combines the high sensitivity of the ion-trap for the first time with the mass accuracy of the time-flow technique. This device offers new possibilities for the identification of trace substances and is an important complement to existing techniques such as GC/MS, LC/MS and NMR and highly efficient methods and procedures for the enrichment of organic compounds. With the help of this new technique, new insights into environmental behavior and effects of trace substances may be obtained, which so far are not or not efficiently analyzed.This new equipment will be used also to further link environmental and health research.