Identification of phenyl-N-methylcarbamates and their transformation products in Tunisian surface water by solid-phase extraction liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Liquid chromatography-pneumatically assisted electrospray mass spectrometry with both negative and positive ionization has been used for the determination of carbamates pesticides and their transformation products in Tunisian surface water. Eight pesticides and four of their hydrolysis products were covered in this study.Optimization of electrospray inlet conditions is described as well as results from investigations of the linearity of the detector response. Conditions for tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS) detection of characteristic daughter ions formed by collision induced dissociation (CID) of the parent ion are described. Detection limits using MS in the selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode were generally in the order of 0.5 μg L⁻¹ or below. A principle of analysis is proposed based on triple quadrupole MS as a method for quantitative determination followed by verification of positive findings by CID-MS-MS. Application of the method for detecting carbamates residues in surface water is demonstrated.