Antimicrobial compounds (triclosan and triclocarban) in sewage sludges, and their presence in runoff following land application.

The reuse of treated municipal sewage ('biosolids') on land is an effective method to divert waste away from landfill and to use an alternative, low cost method of fertilisation. While legislation has mainly focused on the control of nutrient and metal application rates to land, other potentially harmful emerging contaminants (ECs) may be present in biosolids. Up to 80% of municipal sewage sludge is reused in agriculture in Ireland, which is currently the highest rate of reuse in Europe.

Development and validation of a method for analysis of "dioxin-like" PCBs in environmental samples from the steel industry.

A method, previously used for determination of 2,3,7,8-substituted polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), has been modified for quantitative analysis of "dioxin-like" polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) in environmental samples from the steel industry. The existing sample clean-up procedure, involving liquid chromatography on multi-layered silica and Florisil columns, has been extended to include a third chromatography stage on a basic alumina stationary phase. The additional clean-up stage is required for PCB analysis in order to eliminate interferences from relatively large concentrations of saturated cyclic and aliphatic hydrocarbons.

An improved method for clenbuterol screening using high resolution selected ion recording.

A method has been developed using reliable GC derivatization techniques interfaced with a high resolution mass spectrometer. The method has proved successful for the detection of low levels (less than 1 ppm) of clenbuterol in complex biological matrices. Selected ion recording of two characteristic isotopic fragment ions provides a specific mode of detection by verifying the GC retention time of these ions and also by comparing their relative abundance.

Determination of the amino acid sequence of apamin by tandem mass spectrometry.

A new strategy has been developed for the determination of the amino acid sequence of apamin, a two disulfide-bond neurotoxic oligopeptide. Relative molecular mass up to about 2000 was determined using electrospray mass spectrometry. This technique shows that three basic amino acid residues are present in apamin.