Determination of Acrylamide in Raw and Drinking Waters

A liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) method is developed for the fast, high throughput quantitation of acrylamide in drinking water using online sample extraction coupled with the Agilent liquid chromatography/mass selective detector time-of-flight (LC/MSD TOF). The limit of quantitation of 0.25 μg/L meets the World Health Organization guideline for the maximum safe level concentration of acrylamide in drinking water at 0.5 μg/L. In addition to sensitivity, justifying the advantage of using time-of-flight mass spectrometry, is the demonstrated specificity with mass accuracy of 6.4 ppm and reproducibility with standard deviations to three or more decimal places. Introduction The acrylamide monomer (see Figure 1) is a component of polyacrylamides, used in the water industry as a coagulant, and particularly in drinking water treatments to aid water clarification [1]. Determination of Acrylamide in Raw and Drinking Waters Application However, the acrylamide monomer is a well-known neurotoxin and genotoxic carcinogen, so its presence in drinking water could have a negative impact on human health. Environmental