Hydrogen abstraction and decomposition of bromopicrin and other trihalogenated disinfection byproducts by GC/MS.

Tribromonitromethane (bromopicrin), dibromochloronitromethane, bromodichloronitromethane, and trichloronitromethane (chloropicrin) have been identified as drinking water disinfection byproducts (DBPs). They are thermally unstable and decompose under commonly used injection port temperatures (200-250 degrees C) during gas chromatography (GC) or GC/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis. The major decomposition products are haloforms (such as bromoform), which result from the abstraction of a hydrogen atom from the solvent bythermally generated trihalomethyl radicals. A number of other products formed by radical reactions with the solvent and other radicals were also detected. The trihalonitromethanes also decompose in the hot GC/MS transfer line, and the mass spectra obtained are mixed spectra of the undecomposed parent compound and decomposition products. This can complicate the identification of these compounds by GC/MS. Trihalomethyl compounds that do not have a nitro group, such as tribromoacetonitrile, carbon tetrabromide, methyl tribromoacetate, and tribromoacetaldehyde, do not decompose or only slightly decompose in the GC injection port and GC/MS transfer line. The brominated trihalomethyl compounds studied also showed H/Br exchange by some of their fragment ions. This H/Br exchange also makes the identification of these compounds in drinking water more difficult. The extent of H/Br exchange was found to depend on the mass spectrometer ion source temperature, and it is proposed that the internal surface of the ion source is involved in this process.