Abstract

With the ever-increasing efforts of the EPA to implement more stringent environmental regulations, techniques that provide rapid analysis of low levels of environmental toxins become increasingly important.  These environmental toxins are an eclectic group of chemicals, which include organic, inorganic, and biological molecules.  Mass spectrometry is widely used in environmental analysis due to its ability to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze a wide variety of molecules. New advances have been made in the analysis of environmentally relevant compounds using different types of mass spectrometry. These advances have improved limits of detection and simplified sample preparation for the analysis of these compounds.  This seminar will include advances made in analyzing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's) in the atmosphere and mercury and methylmercury in water.