CHIRAL SEPARATIONS Amino Acids and Derivatives See III /AMINO ACIDS AND DERIVATIVES: CHIRAL SEPARATIONS

use by the OPCW inspectorate. Use of GC with one or more spectrometric technique such as mass spectrometry is required to conRrm the presence of chemical warfare agents. For this reason many analyses are carried out by GC-MS under electron impact or chemical ionization conditions. For analyses involving low levels of chemical warfare agents in the presence of high levels of interfering chemical background, GC-MS-MS is receiving increased attention. Atmospheric pressure ionization (e.g. electrospray (ESI), ionspray and atmospheric pressure CI) techniques may be used for the direct mass spectrometric analysis of the hydrolysis products of chemical warfare agents in aqueous samples. Examples of LC-ESIMS methods for these analyses are relatively few, and only recently has this technique been demonstrated for the analysis of the nerve agents as well. These new LC-ESI-MS methods complement existing GC-MS methods for the analysis of chemical warfare agents and their hydrolysis products and will likely replace some GC-MS methods currently in use for the analysis of contaminated aqueous samples.