Applications of forensic chemistry to environmental work

Abstract

Recent trends in environmental remediation have increasingly employed the use of environmental chemistry techniques to decipher the source(s) and fate of the contaminants and, in some cases, to determine their age or apportion them to sources. An extensive database of pyrogenic and petrogenic 'chemical fingerprints' has been constructed by the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and META Environmental, Inc. using gas chromatography coupled with a flame ionization detector (GC/FID) or with a mass spectrometer (GC/MS). The use of these chemical fingerprinting techniques have been highly successful in discerning wastes from wholly different sources as well as among Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP)-type wastes from different plant operations. However, these techniques have been limited when low-level polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) discernment is required. Specifically, these techniques often do not provide data with sufficient conclusive discriminating power between the 'urban background'PAH sources and those from MGP-operations, which is pertinent for meeting low-level, stringent site-cleanup standards. GTI has been developing a new analytical method for the measurement of 'urban background' PAH contamination. This method measures the compound-specific isotope ratio (CSIR) carbon with a GC/IRMS (isotope ratio mass spectrometer). The GC/IRMS technique is a relatively new analytical tool that has great potential as an environmental forensic method at former MGP sites. This paper focuses on the applications of both chemical and isotopic analysis of samples to discern PAH contamination in the environment.

Mass Spectrometry, Proteomics, Data Mining Strategies and Their Applications in Infectious Disease Research.

“…Mass spectrometers are used in biotechnology for the analysis of proteins, peptides, and oligonucleotides [9]; in pharmaceutical research for drug discovery, combinatorial chemistry, pharmacokinetics, and drug metabolism [10]; in clinical research for neonatal screening, haemoglobin analysis, and drug testing; in environmental sciences for pollutants *Address correspondence to this author at the Ontario Cancer Institute, Toronto Medical Discovery Tower, 101 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L7, Canada; Tel: 416-581-7627; Fax. 416-581-7629; E-mail: thomas.kislinger@utoronto.ca (PAHs and PCBs), water quality, and food contamination [11]; and geologically for oil composition determination [12]. In general, mass spectrometry has become a valuable and powerful tool in proteomics research for identifying proteins by database searching from a proteolytic fragment, and in structural analysis for determining protein folding and protein-ligand complex formation [13,14].…”

Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology

“…Industrial activities such as coke and steel production have released large quantities of not only pyrogenic PAHs (Orecchio 2010;Saber et al 2005), but also of LMW PAHs such as naphthalene (Fig. S31), and all of these PAHs eventually end up in soil or sediment (Karlsson and Viklander 2008;Morillo et al 2008b).…”

“…(Fig. S32a, b, Supporting Material; Page et al 1996;Saber et al 2005;Stout et al 2003Stout et al , 2006. Stout et al (2004) suggested that sediments containing significantly more than 20 μg/g dry weight of any of the EPA 16 Priority Pollutant PAHs (or more than 30 μg/g of 43 parent and alkylated PAHs) is suspect for containing PAHs that are not entirely attributable to urban background, unless site-or region-specific survey data support a different urban background concentration profile.…”

Gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry for analyses of organic compounds and biomarkers as tracers for geological, environmental, and forensic research

“…Detailed studies of the source, transport, and fate of organic compounds in the environment are a major theme in the field of forensic research. Environmental forensic techniques and databases were originally developed in oil studies, and were initially applied to environmental work to investigate crude oil spills [306]. In the work of Kvenvolden et al [307], for instance, biomarkers and bulk carbon isotopes values were determined on samples of residues from the Prince William Sound area collected after the Exxon Valdez incident.…”

“…forensic arson investigation, where the chemical signature of an ignitable liquid was detected in the complex chemical matrix of a fire debris sample [69]. However, it is the GC -IRMS technique (used in conjunction with GC and GC -MS) that has been proposed as a powerful tool to individualize a range of biomakers of interest in environmental forensic studies [e. g., 305,306,310,311]. This technique was applied in the study conducted by Mazeas and Budzinski [312], who analyzed samples of bird feathers and tar ball residues collected from the Atlantic Coast of France following the Erika oil spill.…”