Rapid Simultaneous Quantification of 1-Formyl-2,2-Dimethylhydrazine and Dimethylurea Isomers in Environmental Samples by Supercritical Fluid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry

When released to the environment, the rocket fuel unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) undergoes oxidative transformations, resulting in the formation of an extremely large number of nitrogen-containing transformation products, including isomeric compounds which are difficult to discriminate by common chromatography techniques. In the present work, supercritical fluid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (SFC-MS/MS) was proposed for resolving the problem of fast separation and simultaneous quantification of 1-formyl-2,2-dimethylhydrazine (FADMH) as one of the major UDMH transformation products, and its isomers—1,1-dimethylurea (UDMU) and 1,2-dimethylurea (SDMU). 2-Ethylpyridine stationary phase provided baseline separation of analytes in 1.5 min without the distortion of the chromatographic peaks. Optimization of SFC separation and MS/MS detection conditions allowed for the development of rapid, sensitive, and “green” method for the simultaneous determination of FADMH, UDMU, and SDMU in environmental samples with LOQs of 1–10 µg L⁻¹ and linear range covering three orders of magnitude. The method was validated and successfully tested on the real extracts of peaty and sandy soils polluted with rocket fuel and UDMH oxidation products. It was shown that both UDMU and SDMU are formed in noticeable amounts during UDMH oxidation. Despite relatively low toxicity, UDMU can be considered one of the major UDMH transformation products and a potential marker of soil pollution with toxic rocket fuel.     

Screening of transformation products in soils contaminated with unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine using headspace SPME and GC-MS

The paper describes a novel SPME-based approach for sampling and analysis of transformation products of highly reactive and toxic unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) which is used as a fuel in many Russian, European, Indian, and Chinese heavy cargo carrier rockets. The effects of several parameters were studied to optimize analyte recovery. It was found that the 85 μm Carboxen/polydimethylsiloxane fiber coating provides the highest selectivity for selected UDMH transformation products. Optimal sampling/sample preparation parameters were determined to be 1-h soil headspace sampling time at 40 °C. The GC inlet temperature was optimized to 170 °C held for 0.1 min, then 1 °C s⁻¹ ramp to 250 °C where it was held for 40 min. Temperature programing resulted in a fast desorption along with minimal chemical transformation in the GC inlet. SPME was very effective extracting UDMH transformation products from soil samples contaminated with rocket fuel. The use of SPME resulted in high sensitivity, speed, small labor consumption due to an automation and simplicity of use. It was shown that water addition to soil leads to a significant decrease of recovery of almost all target transformation products of UDMH. The use of SPME for sampling and sample preparation resulted in detection of the total of 21 new compounds that are relevant to the UDMH transformation in soils. In addition, the number of confirmed transformation products of UDMH increased from 15 to 27. This sampling/sample preparation approach can be recommended for environmental assessment of soil samples from areas affected by space rocket activity.     

Ion chromatography as a tool for the investigation of unsymmetrical hydrazine degradation in soils

A new procedure for the determination of 1,1-dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) in soil samples was developed. This involves the distillation of UDMH from an alkaline suspension of soil and ion chromatographic analysis of the distillate. The separation was performed on a silica cation-exchanger column with ammonium acetate buffer solution as mobile phase and amperometric detection at +1.2?V. Hydrazine (Hy) and methylhydrazine (MH), which are decomposition products of UDMH, can be determined simultaneously. The limits of detection in aqueous solutions were 0.2, 0.5 and 1?µg?L^?1 for Hy, MH and UDMH, respectively. The developed technique was used for investigating the behaviour of UDMH in spills of rocket fuels on soils. It was found that the addition of 4?kg?m^?2 UDMH resulted in a 0.02% residue one year after the soil treatment. The vertical migration of UDMH in soil was less than 50?cm.     

Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry Quantification of 1,1-Dimethylhydrazine Transformation Products in Aqueous Solutions: Accelerated Water Sample Preparation

The use of highly toxic rocket fuel based on 1,1-dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) in many types of carrier rockets poses a threat to environment and human health associated with an ingress of UDMH into wastewater and natural reservoirs and its transformation with the formation of numerous toxic nitrogen-containing products. Their GC-MS quantification in aqueous samples requires matrix change and is challenging due to high polarity of analytes. To overcome this problem, accelerated water sample preparation (AWASP) based on the complete removal of water with anhydrous sodium sulfate and transferring analytes into dichloromethane was used. Twenty-nine UDMH transformation products including both the acyclic and heterocyclic compounds of various classes were chosen as target analytes. AWASP ensured attaining near quantitative extraction of 23 compounds with sample preparation procedure duration of no more than 5 min. Combination of AWASP with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and using pyridine-d₅ as an internal standard allowed for developing the rapid, simple, and low-cost method for simultaneous quantification of UDMH transformation products with detection limits of 1–5 μg L⁻¹ and linear concentration range covering 4 orders of magnitude. The method has been validated and successfully tested in the analysis of aqueous solutions of rocket fuel subjected to oxidation with atmospheric oxygen, as well as pyrolytic gasification in supercritical water modelling wastewater from carrier rockets launch sites.     

Rapid determination of 1,1-dimethylhydrazine transformation products in soil by accelerated solvent extraction coupled with gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

A method for the analytical extraction of mobile species of eightmain transformation products of 1,1-dimethylhydrazine (formaldehyde dimethylhydrazone, acetaldehyde dimethylhydrazone, 2-furaldehyde dimethylhydrazone, 1,1,4,4-tetramethyl-2-tetrazene, N,N-dimethylformamide, N-nitrosodimethylamine, 1-methyl-1H-1,2,4-triazole, and 1-formyl-2,2-dimethylhydrazine) from soils using subcritical acetonitrile at a pressure of 100 bar is proposed. The effects of temperature, number of extraction cycles, and the moisture content of soil samples on the recovery of analytes were studied. It was found that, for soils with high concentrations of lignin humic substances, efficient extraction can be attained with an addition of significant amounts of alkali to the soil (2.5 g/g). Under the optimum conditions, the recovery of analytes was higher than 70% at the extraction time no more than 30 min. A combination of the proposed sample preparation approach with analysis by gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) ensures the determination of the products of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) transformation in complex matrixes, such as soils with high concentrations of organic substance with detection limits from 1.8 to 15 µg kg^–1 using the direct injection of the extract into the chromatography system. The error of determination at a confidential probability of 0.95 was not worse than 15% even for analyte concentrations close to lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) values. The method developed is a significant improvement compared to the highly efficient methods previously reported in literature differing from them with simple sample preparation, rapidity, low consumption of reagents, the possibility of simultaneous determination of eight compounds and 1–2 orders of higher sensitivity. It was successfully used for the analysis of real samples of peaty soil from the place of impact of the first step of a carrier rocket.     

Application of the localized surface plasmon resonance of gold nanoparticles for the determination of 1,1-dimethylhydrazine in water: Toward green analytical chemistry

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) is an optical phenomena generated by light when it interacts with conductive nanoparticles that are smaller than the incident wavelength. In this work, we proposed a simple, fast, and green method for spectrophotometric determination of unsymmetrical 1,1-dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) based on LSPR property of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). An LSPR band is produced via reduction of Au³⁺ ions in solution by UDMH as active reducing agent in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium chloride as a capping agent. Some important parameters in the formation of LSPR including Au(III) concentration, pH, concentration of stabilizer, and reaction time were studied and optimized. Under optimum conditions, the LSPR intensity displays linear response with the increasing UDMH concentration in the range from 0.5–10 μg/mL at 550 nm with a detection limit of 0.2 μg/mL. Also, the relative standard deviation for ten replicate determination of 5.0 μg/mL of UDMH was 3%. Usage of AuNPs as new nontoxic reagent instead of hazardous reagents in the spectrophotometric determination of UDMH is a step toward green analytical chemistry. The proposed method was successfully applied for determination of UDMH in water and wastewater samples.     

Use of a Selective Ion Electrode for Determination of Nitrate in Soils

Abstract

A procedure for determination of nitrate in soils involving use of the Orion nitrate-selective electrode is described. It is rapid, simple, and precise, and it gives quantitative recovery of nitrate added to soils. The results by this procedure agree closely with those obtained by extraction-distillation methods of determining, nitrate in soil.     

碱蒸馏/超声波衍生化-气相色谱-质谱法测定土壤中的偏二甲肼

建立了碱蒸馏/超声波衍生化预处理的气相色谱-质谱法测定土壤中偏二甲肼的分析方法。通过碱蒸馏预处理方法,以水杨醛为衍生化试剂,采用超声波加速衍生化反应,在选择离子检测( SIM)模式下进行定量分析,衍生化产物的特征离子为m/z 164。考察了碱蒸馏、超声波衍生化条件的影响,并对衍生化条件进行优化,方法的线性范围在0.4~30 mg/L之间,方法检出限为0.0078 mg/kg。以此方法测定已知浓度的土壤样品,目标化合物的含量在10~100 mg/kg之间,回收率在76％~108％之间,相对标准偏差在12％~19％之间。与分光光度法、索氏提取/超声波衍生化-气相色谱-质谱法相比较,本方法检出限显著优于二者。     

CE Determination of Four Major Constituents in Sang-Xing Decoction

The paper describes a method for the determination of 1-methyl-1H-1,2,4-triazole (MT) in soils contaminated due to space activities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. MT is the main transformation product of the primary rocket fuel, 1,1-dimethylhydrazine (UDMH). The analytical procedure is based on gas chromatography in combination with mass-spectrometric detection. The detection limit of the method was determined to be 0.005 mg kg⁻¹. A series of authentic samples from the fall regions of the burned out first stages of UDMH fueled rockets has been analyzed disclosing MT concentrations in the range of 0.020 to 100 mg kg⁻¹.     

Interrelations between soil respiration and its thermal stability

Biological transformation of organic matter in soil is a crucial factor affecting the global carbon cycle. In order to understand these complex processes, soils must be investigated by a combination of various methods. This study compares the dynamics of biological mineralization of soil organic matter (SOM) determined via CO₂ evolution during an 80-day laboratory incubation with their thermo-oxidative stability determined by thermogravimetry (TG). Thirty-three soil samples, originating from a wide range of geological and vegetation conditions from various German national parks were studied. The results showed a correlation between the amount and rate of respired CO₂ and thermal mass losses of air-dried, conditioned soils occurring around 100?°C with linear coefficients of determination up to R ²?=?0.85. Further, correlation of soil respiration with thermal mass losses around 260?°C confirmed previous observations. The comparison of TG profiles from incubated and non-incubated soils underlined the importance of thermal mass losses in these two temperature intervals. Incubated soils had reduced thermal mass losses above 240?°C and conversely an increased mass loss at 100?C120?°C. Furthermore, the accurate determination of soil properties by TG such as soil organic carbon content was confirmed, and it was shown that it can be applied to a wider range of carbon contents as was previously thought. It was concluded that results of thermal analysis could be a helpful starting point for estimation of soil respiration and for development of methods revealing processes in soils.     

Determination of the products of the transformation of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine in soils using chromatography/mass spectrometry

An approach is proposed for the simultaneous determination of formic acid N,N-dimethylhydrazide and 1-methyl-1-H-1,2,4-triazole (ecotoxicants formed upon the oxidative transformation of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine) in soils in the concentration range 0.05–50 mg/kg using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The conditions for the quantitative extraction of the components by continuous periodic extraction with methanol have been found. The adsorption of formic acid N,N-dimethylhydrazide and 1-methyl-1-H-1,2,4-triazole from solutions by soils of different types has been studied and a method has been proposed for preparing uniform model soil samples with the required contaminant concentrations.     

Assessment of three digestion procedures for Zn contents in Pakistani soil by flame atomic absorption spectrometry

Evaluation of three different digestion procedures for accurate determination of elemental concentration in soils was undertaken. The digestion procedures, two leaching and a total dissolution processes were compared for twenty-one soil samples. The soil standard reference materials (SRMs), IAEA Soil-5 and IAEA Soil-7 were analysed for quality control purposes. Zinc (Zn) was analysed using flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). Precise analysis was accomplished in the SRM and soil samples, which was better than 4.7% for leaching and total dissolution procedure. Compared with the elemental concentration in soil samples, HF–HClO₄ procedure achieved greater accuracy, where as HNO₃–H₂O₂ and HNO₃–H₂SO₄–HCl procedures were comparable with slight variation in a few samples.     

Influence of Ca(OH)2 on the Extraction Efficiency of Nitroaromatic Compounds from Soils

High concentrations of TNT and related nitroaromatic compounds (NAC) can still be found in the soils. To evaluate the alkaline hydrolysis of NAC as a new remediation technology, two highly contaminated soils were treated under alkaline conditions using Ca(OH)₂ as base. However, instead of the expected decrease, a temporary or even permanent increase was observed for several NAC. The extent of the intensity was affected by Ca(OH)₂ concentration, suggesting the existence of desorption processes in the soil. The extent of the increase also depends on the soil investigated, the highest being observed with 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene (239 mg kg^?1 compared to the baseline concentration of 24 mg kg^?1) in the HTNT2 soil. This indicates incomplete NAC extraction and, hence, too low NAC concentrations measured in soils when conventional extraction procedures are used.     

Oxidation of Aqueous Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine by Calcium Hypochlorite or Hydrogen Peroxide/ Copper Sulfate

Abstract

The oxidative destruction of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) by a molar excess of Ca(OCl)₂ leads mainly to formaldehyde dimethylhydrazone and tetramethyl tetrazene, but not to N-nitrosodi-methylamine (NDMA). An alternate method using H₂O₂/CuSO₄ leads to ca. 25% NDMA. The amount of UDMH destroyed is affected by the order of addition of the H₂O₂, and CuSO₄: when the CuSO₄ is added first, only ca. 65% of the UDMH is destroyed, while the reverse order of addition leads to 100% destruction of UDMH.     

Precolumn derivatization with glyoxal as a new approach to the highly sensitive HPLC-UV determination of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine

A procedure has been developed for the determination of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) based on precolumn derivatization with glyoxal and determination of the produced derivative, mono-1,1-dimethylhydrazone of glyoxal, by reversed-phase HPLC (RP-HPLC) with UV detection at 305 nm. It has been demonstrated that the reaction of UDMH with an excess of glyoxal in solution quantitatively yields one stable product within 20 min at 25°C at pH 3.5. To increase the sensitivity of UDMH determination it has been proposed to perform solid-phase extraction preconcentration of the derivative from a 25-mL sample portion on cartridges containing Strata SDB-L polymer adsorbent. The analytical range of UDMH determination in water is 0.5–10000 μg/L or 0.01–20 μg/L using preconcentration. The relative standard deviations of UDMH determination (n = 3) do not exceed 0.12 and 0.25 without and with preconcentration, respectively. The accuracy of UDMH determination is confirmed by the analysis of spiked samples and by RP-HPLC determination with preliminary derivatization with 4-nitrobenzaldehyde as independent method.     

Simultaneous determination of the herbicides isoproturon, dichlorprop-p, and bifenox in soils using RP-HPLC

Summary A simple and fast analytical method for the simultaneous determination of the herbicides isoproturon (N-(4-isopropylphenyl)-N'N'-dimethyl-urea), dichlorprop-p ((+)-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)-propionic acid), bifenox (methyl-5-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)-2-nitro-benzoate), and its main metabolite bifenox acid (5-(2,4-dichloro-phenoxy)-2-nitro-benzoic acid) in soils is described. The herbicides differ substantially in their physical and chemical properties. The soil extraction with a mixture of CH₂Cl₂, C₂H₅OH, and acetone, followed by an isocratic RP-HPLC determination yields high, reproducible recoveries for all compounds. The method can be used for different soil moisture and pH conditions. The detection limits range from 0.01 to 0.03 mg active compound/kg dry soil. An additional clean-up using size exclusion techniques can improve the detection limits to 0.003 to 0.007 mg active compound/kg dry soil. The method is suitable for routine residue analyses and applicable to other herbicides as well.     

The Analysis of Inorganic and Organic Pollutants in Soil with Special Regard to Their Bioavailability

Abstract

The most important inorganic pollutants in soil are the heavy metals. Problems related to the determination of the total and soluble content are discussed. Soluble contents are of interest in connection with studies about bioavailability. Because some of the heavy metals are essential for plant growth, most of the work about bioavailability has been done in the field of plant nutrition. Much less is known about the situation in polluted soils.

It was shown that neutral salt solutions which do not really change the pH of soil during the extraction procedure are best suited to define thresholds of excess. This is in contrast to much stronger extractants like EDTA or DTPA often proposed for the analysis of soils which are deficient in trace elements.

With three sets of experiments the correlation between the contents of cadmium, copper, nickel and zinc extracted by 0.1 M NaNO₃ (as an example of a neutral salt solution) and the plant response (phyto- or zootoxicity) are shown:

—pot experiments using soils which were contaminated by metal salt solutions

—pot experiments using soils from contaminated areas

—field studies in polluted areas. In these studies the aspect of heavy metal leaching was also considered.

The results were converted to indicative values in the Swiss Ordinance of Pollutants in the Soil. These indicative values derived from plant reactions were checked by the carbon mineralisation as an example of a soil microbiological process.

As it was found that organic pollutants are not easily taken up by plant roots the problem of bioavailability is much less important. However, the biodegradation and formation of metabolites has to be considered.     

Use of ion and ion-pair chromatography with mass spectrometric detection to determine unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and its transformation products

The conditions of the simultaneous determination of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) and products of its transformation in aqueous solutions with ion and ion-pair chromatography and mass-spectrometric detection in the electrospray ionization mode have been selected. It has been shown that up to seven components may be determined within the limits of detection at the ??g/L level. The application of the developed methods to the analysis of solutions with an initial UDMH concentration of 500 mg/L that had undergone spontaneous oxidation by atmospheric oxygen has been demonstrated. The accumulation of formic acid dimethylhydrazide, 1-methyl-1,2,4-triazole and dimethylamine has been found.     

Comparison and Evaluation of Extraction Media and Their Suitability in a Simple Model to Predict the Biological Relevance of Heavy Metal Concentrations in Contaminated Soils

Abstract

The concentrations of heavy metals in agricultural soils are increasing gradually from various diffuse sources. The metals can transfer from contaminated soils into the growing plants or may affect the respiration rate of soil microorganisms.

In the first part of this paper, the following simple model to predict the biorelevant metal concentration in anthropogenically or artificially contaminated soils is reported: log M_p = α + β log [M_NaNO3] log M_R = α' + β' log [M_NaNO3] log M_P = log Metal concentration in test plant (mg/kg dry weight) log M_R = log percent Redution in the respiration or enzyme activity [M_NaNO3] = Metal concentration in NaNO3-soil extract (mg/kg soil) α and β & α' + β' = Intercepts and slopes of the linear regression lines.

The model has been tested in laboratory experiments, in growth experiments either in a greenhouse or in the field. Also, an attempt is made to present a theoretical interpretation.

Critical concentrations are calculated with the help of the relationship between metal concentration in soil solution [M_NaNO3] and metal concentration in plants. The critical concentration, which is able to induce either phyto- or zootoxic concentrations in the plant parts (productive or vegetative) or reduce their growth or to reduce significantly the growth of soil microorganisms, are found to be uniform in a wide range of soils (pH 3 to 8 and CEC 10–50 millimol/100g soil), the critical concentrations of NaNO₃ in soil extracts are comparable with the values obtained with plant growth experiments in nutrient solution and also with the concentrations obtained from soil respiration experiments reported in literature.     

Spectrophotometric Determination of Some Aromatic Aldehydes

Abstract

A spectrophotometric quantitative determination method of aromatic aldehydes via interaction with diphenylamine in the presence of 5N hydrochloric acid was developed. The colored products obtained display maximum absorption at λ = 590-640 nm, E_cm ^1% in the range 50-410, and a concentration range of 5-75 μg/ml. The effects of time, concentration and temperature on the nature of reaction products were investigated. Various other organic compounds do not interfere.