Determination of triglycidyl isocyanurate from air samples by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with coordination ion spray mass spectrometry.

Ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with coordination ion spray tandem mass spectrometry was used for the analysis of air samples containing triglycidyl isocyanurate. The method is not affected by any chromatographic interference and the filter extract is compatible with the UPLC system, as opposed to approaches using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultraviolet detection and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Accu-cap™ filters that had sampled triglycidyl isocyanurate were extracted using a mixture of acetonitrile/acetone (95/5) diluted with 3 volumes of water and were then analyzed. The mass spectrometry method uses sodium as the alkali adduct complexing with the triglycidyl isocyanurate in positive mode, and this complex is then analyzed using the survivor mode where the same ion is monitored in the first and third quadrupoles of a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The method has a limit of detection and limit of quantitation of 50 and 170 ng/filter, respectively. The dynamic range was between 480 and 24,000 ng/sample, which is equivalent to 2 µg/m(3) and 100 µg/m(3) based on a sampling volume of 240 L. The intra- and inter-day precisions were both <4% and the overall accuracy was 97 ± 3%. The method was tested with personal breathing zone random samples collected from workers using triglycidyl isocyanurate in their tasks, and all the random samples were easily quantified. A new method by UPLC coupled with coordination ion spray tandem mass spectrometry using sodium as the alkali adduct is now available for industrial hygienists who want to evaluate exposures of workers to triglycidyl isocyanurate in workplaces.