The Future of GC/Q-TOF in Environmental Analysis

Abstract Gas chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC/Q-TOF) offers high mass resolution and accurate mass data with the ability to perform structure elucidation and confirmation via MS/MS processes for a myriad of analytes in environmental and biological matrices. The ability of GC/Q-TOF to accurately measure persistent organic pollutants and deconvolve the data to identify and confirm new environmental contaminates in the same sample offers a powerful methodology for environmental analysis and the identification of exposure markers and disease biomarkers. In conjunction with environmental analysis, GC/Q-TOF can be used to explore the biologically relevant chemical space in an “omics” workflow and examine personal exposure to chemical entitles over time—a relatively new concept called the exposome, the measurement of which is called exposomics.