In-Line Ozonation for Sensitive Air-Monitoring of a Mustard-Gas Simulant by Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry.

A highly sensitive method for real-time air-monitoring of mustard gas (bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide, HD), which is a lethal blister agent, is proposed. Humidified air containing a HD simulant, 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (2CEES), was mixed with ozone and then analyzed by using an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization ion trap tandem mass spectrometer. Mass-spectral ion peaks attributable to protonated molecules of intact, monooxygenated, and dioxygenated 2CEES (MH(+), MOH(+), and MO(2)H(+), respectively) were observed. As ozone concentration was increased from zero to 30 ppm, the signal intensity of MH(+) sharply decreased, that of MOH(+) increased once and then decreased, and that of MO(2)H(+) sharply increased until reaching a plateau. The signal intensity of MO(2)H(+) at the plateau was 40 times higher than that of MH(+) and 100 times higher than that of MOH(+) in the case without in-line ozonation. Twenty-ppm ozone gas was adequate to give a linear calibration curve for 2CEES obtained by detecting the MO(2)H(+) signal in the concentration range up to 60 μg/m(3), which is high enough for hygiene management. In the low concentration range lower than 3 μg/m(3), which is equal to the short-term exposure limit for HD, calibration plots unexpectedly fell off the linear calibration curve, but 0.6-μg/m(3) vapor was actually detected with the signal-to-noise ratio of nine. Ozone was generated from instrumentation air by using a simple and inexpensive home-made generator. 2CEES was ozonated in 1-m extended sampling tube in only 1 s.