Reference Library for Suspect Non-targeted Screening of Environmental Toxicants Using Ion Mobility Spectrometry-Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

As our health is affected by the xenobiotic chemicals we are exposed to, it is important to rapidly assess these molecules both in the environment and our bodies. Targeted analytical methods coupling either gas or liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS or LC-MS) are commonly utilized in current exposure assessments. While these methods are accepted as the gold standard for exposure analyses, they often require multiple sample preparation steps and more than 30 minutes per sample. This throughput limitation is a critical gap for exposure assessments and has resulted in an evolving interest in using ion mobility spectrometry and MS (IMS-MS) for non-targeted studies. IMS-MS is a unique technique due to its rapid analytical capabilities (millisecond scanning) and detection of a wide range of chemicals based on unique collision cross section (CCS) and mass-to-charge (m/z) values. To increase the availability of IMS-MS information for exposure studies, here we utilized drift tube IMS-MS to evaluate 4,685 xenobiotic chemical standards from the Environmental Protection Agency Toxicity Forecaster (ToxCast) program including pesticides, industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, consumer products, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). In the analyses, 3,993 [M+H]+, [M+Na]+, [M-H]- and [M+]+ ion types were observed with high confidence and reproducibility ([≤]1% error intra-laboratory and [≤]2% inter-laboratory) from 2,140 unique chemicals. These values were then assembled into an openly available multidimensional database and uploaded to PubChem to enable rapid IMS-MS suspect screening for a wide range of environmental contaminants, faster response time in environmental exposure assessments, and assessments of xenobiotic-disease connections.