On-line monitoring of chloramine reactions by membrane introduction mass spectrometry.

Membrane introduction mass spectrometry has been applied to on-line monitoring of the reaction of monochloramine with hydrogen chloride. The detection limit for monochloramine introduced by a sheet-membrane direct-insertion probe and measured by electron impact ionization and selected ion detection was found to be 0.7 mg/l. Formation of dichloramine, trichloramine and molecular chlorine in response to the addition of hydrogen chloride to the monochloramine solution was measured on-line. The flow-through membrane introduction mass spectrometry method for detection of chloramines and characterization of their chemistry has minimal memory effects, high molecular specificity, high speed of analysis owing to fast response times, and low detection limits.