Determination of 1,1-Dimethylhydrazine and its Transformation Products in Soil by Zwitterionic Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometry

An HPLC-ESI-QTOF method to analyze polar heteroatomic species in aviation turbine fuel via hydrophilic interaction chromatography

Aviation turbine fuel is a complex mixture of thousands of compounds. An analytical method using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) coupled with electrospray ionization and quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-QTOF) was developed for the identification of heteroatomic, polar compounds in aviation turbine fuel. Although compounds containing oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur functional groups are each found at low levels (<0.1 % by mass) in fuels, their presence can generate significant effects on fuel properties. The HILIC-ESI-QTOF method is a combined separation and detection technique that possesses many advantages including a fast and simple sample preparation-requiring no extraction step therefore ensuring no loss of compounds of interest-and the ability to acquire high-fidelity compound data for chemometric analysis of heteroatomic species in aviation turbine fuel. In the development of the method, it was found that the chromatographic conditions and nature of the injection sample had a significant effect on separation efficiency and repeatability. For a sample dataset optimized using a singular aviation turbine fuel, retention time shift was able to be reduced from 0.4 min to 2.0 % relative standard deviation (RSD) to approximately 0.1 min with RSD of 0.4 % using the newly developed method. In addition, a high number of untargeted molecular features (944) and targeted amines (121) were able to be identified when utilizing optimal method conditions. The specific benefits and limitations of utilizing HILIC techniques with HPLC-ESI-QTOF are also discussed herein. This new method is currently being expanded to include analysis of all heteroatoms and is being applied to real fuel sets. The results of these studies are forthcoming.

Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and related compounds in the environment: Recent updates on pretreatment, analysis, and removal techniques

Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (1,1-Dimethylhydrazine, UDMH) has been widely used as aerospace fuel in many countries. The launch of space vehicles can cause the release and leakage of UDMH into the environment, posing serious threats to ecology system and human population. Even worse, the health risks are also pertinent to its numerous classes of transformation products including N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), because most of them display carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. Recently, there has been an intense ongoing development of simple, fast, green, and effective techniques for determining and removing these hazardous substances. This review summarizes the latest research progress regarding the sources, fates, pretreatment, analysis, and removal techniques of UDMH and related products in the environment. Sample preparation methods mainly include pressurized liquid extraction, liquid-phase microextraction techniques, solid-phase extraction, headspace-solid-phase microextraction, and supercritical fluid extraction. Detection and identification methods mainly include high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS), gas chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS), and sensors. Removal methods mainly include advanced oxidation processes, adsorption, biodegradation techniques. The advantages/disadvantages, applications, and trends of the proposed approaches are thoroughly discussed to provide a valuable reference for further studies.

A Sensitive Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Method Based on Derivatization with 1-Nitro-2-Naphthaldehyde for Determination of Alkylhydrazines in Surface water

BACKGROUND

Alkylhydrazines are widely used in the industrial fields. An analysis of alkylhydrazines in surface water is need because these chemicals are likely to be discharged into wastewater and enter aquatic environments.

OBJECTIVE

An ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method was developed to determine the levels of five alkylhydrazines (N,N-dimethylhydrazine, ethylhydrazine, 1-isopropylhydrazine, phenylhydrazine and 1-methyl-1-phenylhydrazine) in surface water.

METHODS

This method is based on the derivatization of alkylhydrazines with 1-nitro-2-naphthaldehyde (NNA) in water. A derivatization reagent dosage of 0.5 mg of NNA, a pH of 2, and a reaction time of 30 min at 40 °C were determined to be the optimal conditions for UHPLC-MS/MS detection. The derivatives were injected into the LC system without additional extraction or purification steps.

RESULTS

The proposed method was used under optimized conditions to detect alkylhydrazines in surface water, with the limit of quantification found to be 0.01-0.03 μg/L. The accuracy ranged from 91.0 to 106.0%, and the precision, expressed as the relative standard deviation, was less than 10%. Of the five alkylhydrazines, only N,N-dimethyl hydrazine was detected in the real samples at a concentration range of 0.010 to 0.041 μg/L.

CONCLUSION

The developed method can be used to confirm the presence of alkylhydrazine residues in surface water and represents an important tool for evaluating the fate of alkylhydrazines in surface water.

HIGHLIGHTS

This method to determine alkylhydrazine in surface water was developed simply and rapidly after derivatization reaction without an extraction or clean-up step in UHPLC-MS/MS.

Migration and transformation of 1,1-dimethylhydrazine in peat bog soil of rocket stage fall site in Russian North

An ingress of highly toxic rocket fuel 1,1-dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) and its transformation products into environment represents a serious negative impact on the ecosystem, as well as human health. The present research demonstrates the first data on the spatial distribution and quantification of UDMH and its main transformation products (methylhydrazine, hydrazine, 1,1,4,4-tetramethyltetrazene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and furaldehyde N,N-dimethylhydrazones, 1-formyl-2,2-dimethylhydrazine, N,N-dimethylformamide, N-nitrosodimethylamine, and 1-methyl-1H-1,2,4-triazole) in the peat bog soil of the fall site in subarctic region. One hundred samples of peat bog soil and one sample of surface water were analyzed by the developed earlier methodology. The considerable amounts of UDMH and most of its transformation products were found at distances of not >10 m from the center of the fall site. The maximum concentration of UDMH was found near the center, where maximal permissible concentration (MPC) was exceeded 2400-fold. The greatest pollution was observed in the surface soil layer, while methylhydrazine, 1-methyl-1H-1,2,4-triazole, 1-formyl-2,2-dimethylhydrazine, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde N,N-dimethylhydrazones, and N,N-dimethylformamide were the major UDMH transformation products. With increasing distance from the center, the composition of the transformation products changes in favor of the last three compounds. Formaldehyde N,N-dimethylhydrazone and N,N-dimethylformamide are present in all soil samples and can be considered as reliable markers of contamination with rocket fuel. The surface water of the peat bog contained four UDMH transformation products in considerable concentrations, including extremely toxic N-nitrosodimethylamine. The processes of migration and transformation of UDMH in peat bog soil differ considerably from those in sandy soils. This is due to cold climate of subarctic zone, the reducing environment of peat bog, and strong binding of hydrazines to organic matter of peat, which prevents migration of pollutants and contributes to the long-term maintenance of high levels of soil pollution.

Effects of oxidant and catalyst on the transformation products of rocket fuel 1,1-dimethylhydrazine in water and soil

Existing methods for cleanup of wastewaters and soils polluted with the extremely toxic rocket fuel unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) are mainly based on the treatment with various oxidative reagents. Until now, the assessment of their effectiveness was based on the residual content of UDMH and did not take into account the possibility of the formation of a large number of potentially dangerous nitrogen-containing transformation products (TPs). In this study, using the recently developed approach based on high-resolution Orbitrap mass spectrometry, the comprehensive characterization of UDMH TPs formed by the action of air oxygen and different oxidants (Fenton's reagent, KMnO₄, HOCl, H₂O₂ in the presence of Cu²⁺ and [Fe (EDTA)]^- catalysts) typically used to detoxify spill sites was performed. The range of the identified molecular formulas of TPs comprised 303 compounds of various classes. Among them, there is a number of major products not previously described in the literature. It was established that none of the investigated oxidative reagents ensures complete conversion of rocket fuel to safe compounds. The hydrogen peroxide based reagents, particularly H₂O₂ + Na [Fe (EDTA)] system currently used in Kazakhstan, give the greatest number of TPs, for many of which a toxicity was not characterized so far. The majority of the compounds found in model solutions was detected in extracts of soil from the crash site of the Proton carrier rocket, which was subjected to the on-site reagent treatment. During successive treatments, along with the decrease in the number of detectable UDMH TPs, their ratios change in favor of amines.

Evaluation of a novel hollow fiber membrane technique for collection of 1,1-dimethylhydrazine in air

The purpose of this study was to develop a novel one-step method for the time-weighted average determination of 1,1-dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) in the air followed by spectrophotometric detection. For this reason, 0.1% hydrochloric acid as the absorbent was used in hollow fiber (HF) membrane for sampling of UDMH from an atmospheric standard chamber. Response surface methodology (RSM) with central composite design (CCD) was used to optimize the sampling parameters, such as flow rate and sampling time. Moreover, several analytical parameters including breakthrough (BT) volume, storage time, and carryover effect of the proposed HF were investigated. The results showed that optimal sampling rate was 9.90 mL/min. In order to validate the proposed method, it was compared with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) 3515 method, which showed good compatibility between the two methods. Intra- and inter-day repeatability values of the HF method were in the range 0.082-0.1 and 0.091-0.12, respectively, and the limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantitation (LOQs) were 0.002 and 0.006 ng/mL, respectively. The storage time of the proposed HF was 7 days at 2 °C. These results demonstrated that the one-step HF membrane offered a high sensitivity for sampling of UDMH in air.