Acrylamide is used mainly in the production of polyacrylamides, which in turn are used as flocculants in wastewater treatment, drinking water treatment, and ore and sand mining. The acrylamide monomer may be present, as an impurity, at levels up to 5% in polyacrylamides and the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified acrylamide as a �probable carcinogen� to humans. A simple and sensitive analytical method was developed to quantify levels of acrylamide in environmental and drinking waters. The analytical method consisted of solvent exchanging acrylamide from 2 mL of a water sample into 2 mL of dichloromethane using acetonitrile as an intermediate. The sample was then directly analyzed by large-volume (750 �L) injection (LVI) � hydrophilic-interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) and tandem mass spectrometry. This is the first application of a HILIC method for acrylamide and the first time HILIC and LVI techniques have been used in combination. The method detection and quantitation limits were 2.4 ng/L and 17 ng/L of acrylamide, respectively. These are currently the lowest detection and quantitation limits reported using HPLC-based techniques. The recovery of acrylamide during solvent exchange was 95 � 2.8% and the method accuracy was 89 � 3.0% at 25 ng/L of acrylamide and 102 � 2.6% at 250 ng/L of acrylamide.Samples from a sand-and-gravel mine and two drinking-water treatment plants were acquired to demonstrate the method. The concentrations of acrylamide at the sand-and-gravel mine were up to 280 ng/L. In the drinking-water treatment plants, the concentration of acrylamide was approximately double in the finished drinking water when compared to other stages in the drinking-water treatment process. In addition, samples will be acquired from newly-constructed drinking water wells across the state of Minnesota and the data from those samples will be presented as well.

Determination of acrylamide in environmental and drinking waters by large-volume injection�hydrophilic-interaction liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry

248th National Meeting (2014)

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