Presented on April 27, 2022, by Stuart Oehrle - Waters Field Lab and Northern Kentucky University - at the 2022 Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference (ECEC22)

Liquid Chromatography/Tandem-Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) is a powerful tool for the analysis of various analytes in a wide variety of matrices. Various cyanobacterial algae that produce toxins, microcystins being one of the more well-known, represent an emerging class of algal toxins of concern to both the recreational and drinking water industry. In this paper we investigate the use of the selectivity of mass spectrometry as well as smaller column particles to monitor for many of these toxins using a generic gradient method. Specifically, microcystins, anatoxin-a, cylindrospermopsin as well as newer toxins, such as euglenophycin, anabaenopeptins and micropeptins using Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC®) combined with tandem mass spectrometry in a single run under 14 minutes. We investigated the analysis of a wide variety of freshwater samples from throughout the United States and cultured strains from the lab. Examples showing additional toxins detected in freshwater samples will be presented including data from the recent blooms in the North Carolina, and the Ohio River.

Download slides: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/114135