Session: Advances in Mass Spectrometry:

Chemical warfare agents (CWAs) are toxic chemicals that have been used as disabling or lethal weapons in war, terrorist attacks, and assassinations. The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) has prohibited the use, development, production, and stockpiling of CWAs since its initiation in 1997, however, the threat of deployment still looms. Detection of trace CWAs post-deployment or post-remediation, in bulk matrices such as soil, often requires lengthy sample preparation steps or extensive chromatographic separation times. Presented here is an ambient ionization technique, 3D-printed cone spray ionization (3D-PCSI), which provides a rapid, simple, and low-cost method for trace CWA analysis in bulk matrices for both in-laboratory and in-field detection. Described here is the utilization of conductive 3D-printed cones to perform both rapid sampling and ionization for CWA simulants and hydrolysis products in seven solid matrices, demonstrating the versatility of this method. The analysis of trace quantities of CWA simulants and hydrolysis products by 3D-PCSI-MS coupled to both a laboratory benchtop and a field-portable mass spectrometer is detailed. Empirical limits of detection (LOD) for CWA simulants on the benchtop mass spectrometer ranged from 100 ppt to 750 ppb and were highly dependent on solid matrix composition. The portable mass spectrometer was demonstrated to have approximately an order of magnitude higher limits of detection as expected when transitioning to a field portable system. These rugged field portable ionization sources are disposable and can easily be incorporated into CWA testing routines with minimal training and effort.

Dr. Patrick W. Fedick

Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division

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