Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2006ME84B

Identification of Disinfection Byproducts by High Resolution Gas Chromatography Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry

Institute: Maine
Year Established: 2006 Start Date: 2006-03-01 End Date: 2007-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $10,050 Total Non-Federal Funds: $49,321

Principal Investigators: Touradj Solouki, John Peckenham

Project Summary: This proposal describes activities that are aimed at identifying disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in natural and treated drinking waters at the highest level of confidence currently achievable. The ultimate goal of this research is to reduce the public health risks posed by harmful DBPs in drinking water. When strong oxidizing disinfectants such as chlorine, chloramines, chlorine dioxide, or ozone react with the natural organic matter in water, a myriad of halogenated and non-halogenated DBPs are formed. Concerns about the adverse effects of DBPs on reproductive and developmental health of human populations have fueled the quest to identify and characterize DBPs. In spite of the extensive research to identify new DBPs, majority of these toxins has not been identified. Maine is in a unique position to take advantage of its advanced technological capabilities and become a leader in this and related emerging fields in environmental and health sciences. For the analyte detection and characterization, we propose to use a state-of-the-art and in-house configured Gas Chromatography Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometer (GC/FT-ICR MS). Our GC/FT-ICR MS provides ultrahigh mass measurement accuracy (MMA) and the highest mass resolving power (MRP) achievable with any type of GC/MS; currently, we hold the world record for the highest MRP in the field of GC/MS. The ultrahigh MMA and MRP will enable unambiguous determination of elemental compositions for unknown analytes. The proposed project provides an excellent opportunity to identify bio/geo-markers and acquire promising data for proposal submission to external funding agencies such as the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the areas of forensics and biomedical research. The proposed research project is envisioned to produce sufficient data to enable one student to earn her M.Sc..