Ron Hites is a pioneer in environmental chemistry, laying the foundation for the analysis of environmental contaminants, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, and flame retardants. Ron’s research was not limited to a particular matrix—he explored them all: air, water, soil, biota, even dust. Ron has also used mass spectrometry (MS) to discover new contaminants in the environment. In a recent Scientific Opinion article published in <i>Environmental Science & Technology</i>, Ron delved into the issue of nontarget screening and whether current approaches are reproducible. He also highlights the time-honored methods of using high resolution-MS to obtain elemental compositions for unknowns (not new), hypothesizing chemical structures based on library searching and manual interpretation of mass spectra, finally obtaining authentic chemical standards to confirm tentative identifications and answer the “so what” question (e.g., where did this compound come from, is it widespread, is it toxic?). I was fortunate early in my career to have invaluable advice from Ron, including being cautioned that compounds are not really “identified” until they are confirmed with chemical standards. In this presentation, I will discuss some key unknown discoveries made in my group and why a thoughtful mass spectral interpretation is still needed, even in the current day of high-throughput nontarget screening, where thousands of “features” are often reported in samples.

Identifying unknowns and why a thoughtful, expert mass spectral interpretation is still needed: Lessons learned from Ron Hites

2019 Spring National Meeting

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