Use of the HS-PTR-MS for online measurements of pyrethroids during indoor insecticide treatments

Abstract

A high-sensitivity proton transfer reaction mass spectrometer (HS-PTR-MS) has been used to study the temporal evolution of pesticide concentrations in indoor environments. Because of the high time variability of the indoor air concentrations during household pesticide applications, the use of this online high time resolution instrument is found relevant. Four pyrethroid pesticides of the latest generation that are commonly found in electric vaporizer refills, namely, transfluthrin, empenthrin, tetramethrin, and prallethrin, were considered. A controlled pesticide generation system was settled and coupled to a HS-PTR-MS analyzer, and a calibration procedure based on the fragmentation patterns of the protonated molecules was performed. To illustrate the functionality of the method, measurements of the concentration-time profiles of transfluthrin contained in an electric vaporizer were carried out in a full-scale environmental room under air exchange rate-controlled conditions. This study demonstrates that the HS-PTR-MS technique can provide online and high time-resolved measurements of semi-volatile organic compounds such as pyrethroid insecticides.

Gas-phase pesticide measurement using iodide ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

“…Tannenbaum employed chloride as a reagent ion to detect the chlorinated pesticide Aldrin (Tannenbaum et al, 1975). More recently, Vesin et al showed that high-sensitivity proton transfer reaction mass spectrometers can be calibrated to measure indoor concentrations in the 0.5-600 ppb v range of four pyrethroid pesticides with limits of detection (LODs) of 50 ppt v with 1 s time resolution (Vesin et al, 2012). However, these studies are limited by the use of a quadrupole mass spectrometer, which only has unit mass resolution (m/ m ∼ 1000) and thus limits the selectivity of the measurement.…”

Transfluthrin indoor air concentration and inhalation exposure during application of electric vaporizers

“…The household insecticide treatment exhibits high emission variability. Therefore, the measurements of the gaseous transfluthrin emitted by the electric vaporizer refills was performed with a High Sensitivity Proton-Transfer-Reaction Mass Spectrometer (HS-PTR-MS) (Ionicon Analytik), which provided on-line and high time-resolved measurements (Vesin et al, 2012). The HS-PTR-MS technique is based on chemical ionization of the molecules under study through H 3 O + transfer reactions, combined with subsequent mass spectrometric ion detection (Lindinger et al, 1998).…”

Direct Analysis Mass Spectrometry

“…These include monitoring normal atmospheric VOC variations, anthropogenic VOCs, biogenic VOCs, and pollution monitoring. Different platforms have been utilized including field site measurements [67,68], vehicles [69], ships [70], and aircraft [71][72][73]. Some of these variations in the applications of PTR-MS are demonstrated in the snap shot of publications that follow: (i) measurements of VOCs of anthropogenic origin above a large city [69]; (ii) analysis of syngas in an industrial Fischer Tropsch process [74]; (iii) a comparison of PTR-MS with GC-MS of environmental analytes [75]; (iv) monitoring the atmosphere for pollutants near intensive farm animal production [76].…”