Determination of the pesticide naptalam and its degradation products by positive and negative ion mass spectrometry

N-1-Naphthylphtalamic acid (naptalam) and its degradation products, 1-naphthylamine and N-(1-naphthyl) phthalimide were simultaneously determined in river water by two independent mass spectrometric (MS) methods. These were negative ion MS (NIMS) and programmable temperature vaporizer gas chromatography mass spectrometry (PTV-GC MS) with electron impact ionization (positive ions). Prior to the NIMS analysis, the samples were preconcentrated by solid phase extraction (SPE) of C₁₈ membrane discs. The PTV-GC MS studies were performed without any preconcentration procedure. Selected ion monitoring (SIM) and internal standardization with naphthalene were applied in both methods. The limits of determination (LOD) of NIMS studies were 230, 270 and 260 ng L^–1 for naptalam, 1-naphthylamine and N-(1-naphthyl) phthalimide, respectively, with relative standard deviation (RSD) < 1% (n = 5) and of PTV-GC MS 17, 11 and 15?ng L^–1 (RSD < 0.7%, n = 5). The LOD, linearity, RSD and time required for these methods are far better than for HPLC analyses.