Benchmarking of the quantification approaches for the non-targeted screening of micropollutants and their transformation products in groundwater

Open access
Date
2021-03Type
- Journal Article
Abstract
A wide range of micropollutants can be monitored with non-targeted screening; however, the quantification of the newly discovered compounds is challenging. Transformation products (TPs) are especially problematic because analytical standards are rarely available. Here, we compared three quantification approaches for non-target compounds that do not require the availability of analytical standards. The comparison is based on a unique set of concentration data for 341 compounds, mainly pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and their TPs in 31 groundwater samples from Switzerland. The best accuracy was observed with the predicted ionization efficiency-based quantification, the mean error of concentration prediction for the groundwater samples was a factor of 1.8, and all of the 74 micropollutants detected in the groundwater were quantified with an error less than a factor of 10. The quantification of TPs with the parent compounds had significantly lower accuracy (mean error of a factor of 3.8) and could only be applied to a fraction of the detected compounds, while the mean performance (mean error of a factor of 3.2) of the closest eluting standard approach was similar to the parent compound approach. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000469336Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Analytical and Bioanalytical ChemistryVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
SpringerSubject
LC/HRMS; Non-targeted; Quantification; Transformation productsMore
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