Liquid chromatography with mass-spectrometric detection for the determination of chemical warfare agents and their degradation products

This review summarizes the results of high-performance liquid chromatography with mass-spectrometric detection (HPLC-MS) in the identification of chemical warfare agents and their degradation products, obtained in the last 13 years passed since the ratification of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling, and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (the Convention). The conditions of the separation and detection of compounds in a variety of ionization techniques (electrospray ionization, atmospheric pressure chemical ionization) and analyzers (time-of-flight (TOF), tandem mass spectrometry, triple quadrupole, ion trap) are considered. The detection limits of the degradation products are given; the possibility of identifying compounds and the methods of sample preparation using contemporary methods of preconcentration (solvent microextraction) and separation (use of various adsorbents, molecularly-imprinted polymers) are described. The features of the HPLC-MS analysis of environmental samples (water, soil) and biological fluids (urine, blood serum) are discussed. The review is focused on the determination of the degradation products and derivatives of nerve agents, that is, alkylphosphonic acids.