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.

Detection and Neutralization of Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine on the Surface of Construction Materials

Abstract

The construction materials that contacted with unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and the desorption solutions obtained when treating the contaminated surface of metals and alloys with water and reagents were studied by chromatography and mass spectrometry. Neutralization of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine was studied using ozone and shungite. Ozonation makes it possible to destroy the toxicant molecules chemically and physically adsorbed on the surface of metal constructions, due to which they can be reused and utilized. Shungite effectively adsorbs and catalytically decomposes not only unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and its transformation products, but also oligomer compounds formed during the storage of hydrazine fuel. Ozonation of spent shungite can increase the efficiency of destructive processes and completeness of its regeneration.

Surface chemistry of structural materials subjected to corrosion

The article describes a comprehensive mass spectrometric approach to the study of surfaces of structural materials. The combined use of thermal desorption mass spectrometry, gas and liquid chromatography, and laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI) to provide information about the surface and surface layers of materials is proposed. The suggested method allows one to determine the thermodynamic characteristics of compounds and surface contaminants adsorbed on surfaces, as well as surface layers, to determine the composition of volatile and non-volatile contaminants on the surface, and to determine the nature of the distribution over the surface of these compounds. The method allows to obtain the most complete information about the surface condition and can be used to predict the life of structural materials.