Detection, identification, and occurrence of thiotetronic acids in drinking water from underground sources by electrospray ionization-high field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry-quadrupole time-of-flight-mass spectrometry.

This paper demonstrates that electrospray ionization (ESI) with differential ion mobility spectroscopy (FAIMS) and "soft" mass spectrometry (MS) provide unique analytical capabilities that led to the discovery of sulfur-containing polar congeners of thiotetronic acid (TA) in drinking water from underground sources in Canada and the United States. Polar TAs accumulate in underground aquifers and appear to be the most abundant class of organic compounds in bottled water but cannot be detected by conventional mass spectrometry methods. We show that normally stable TAs are converted into very reactive ions in ESI which have to be analyzed using special conditions in ESI-FAIMS-MS to avoid extensive dissociation and ion/molecule reactions. De novo identification of 10 TAs was accomplished by the comparative tandem mass spectrometry analysis of authentic TA derivatives from groundwater samples and synthetic TA analogues prepared for this study. We present highlights of gas phase ion chemistry of polar TAs to explain their unique properties and reactivity. TA derivatives were originally isolated from soil bacteria and are of interest in the pharmaceutical industry due to their potent activity against a broad spectrum of pathogenic bacteria and negligible toxicity to mammals. We suspect that TAs are natural disinfection agents protecting groundwater from bacterial contamination, but these compound undergo modifications or decompose during an ozonation water treatment.