GC determination of N-nitrosamines by supersonic molecular beam MS equipped with triple quadrupole analyzer, GC/SMB/QQQ/MS

The determination of 14 N-nitrosamines by a supersonic molecular beam electron ionization mass spectrometer equipped with triple quadruple analyzer, GC/SMB/EI/QQQ/MS is presented. The supersonic molecular beam electron ionization ion source allows the elucidation of the molecular ion of 13 out of the 14 examined nitrosamines (except for diphenylnitrosamine which was degraded before the analysis). It was possible to use the molecular ions of all the nitrosamines as the parent ions for multiple reactions monitoring mode, which in turn allows significant increase of specificity and lowering of the method limit of detection of the higher molecular weight nitrosamines. The instrumental LOD for different N-nitrosamines was 1–5 pg injection⁻¹. The proposed method was exemplified by analysis of N-nitrosamines and N-nitrosatables in rubber teats according to the British Standard BS EN 12868:1999.