Simultaneous determination of degradation products related to chemical warfare agents by high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry

Chemical munitions that include organoarsenic chemical agent were manufactured by Japanese imperial forces and abandoned in various locations of Japan and China at the end of World War II. These organoarsenic compounds and various decomposition products have caused environmental contamination and damage to health. For the analysis of chemical warfare agents (CWA) and related compounds in environmental samples, determination was carried out using high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry of nine CWA-related compounds: 2-chlorovinylarsonic acid (CVAOA), phenylarsonic acid (PAA), thiodigricol (TDG), phenylmethlarsinic acid (PMAA), 2-chlorovinylarsine oxide (CVAO), phenylarsine oxide (PAO), diphenylarsenic acid (DPAA), bis(2-chlorovinyl)arsinous acid (BCVAA) and bis(diphenylarsine)oxide (BDPAO). TDG and eight arsine compounds could be simultaneously measured by LC/MS/MS equipped with a reversed-phase column (C8). The limits of detection of CVAOA, PAA, PMAA, DPAA and other compounds were 0.5, 0.05, 0.001, 0.0001 and 0.01 mu g/ml, respectively. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.