Disinfectants are indispensable in water treatment processes, but during the disinfection process, disinfectants react with halogen ions and natural organic matter contained in the source water to produce disinfection by-products (DBPs), which pose a health hazard to the human body. Among them, halogen oxides and haloacetic acids (HAAs) have received special attention. Haloxides are inorganic oxygen-containing anions, including bromate, chlorite, and chlorate. HAAs are halogen substituted organic acids that are difficult to degrade, exhibit significant cytotoxicity and genotoxicity, and are associated with the development of various human cancers.

The EPA 300 and 300.1 detection methods can accurately detect these disinfection by-products and timely grasp their content in water. Once the content exceeds the safety standard, the disinfection process can be adjusted in a timely manner or other effective measures can be taken to ensure the safety of drinking water and reduce the harm to public health caused by drinking water containing unsafe disinfection by-products. 

In recent years, it has been found that the toxicity of iodinated/brominated haloacetic acids is much higher than that of regulated chlorinated HAAs. New detection methods need to cover all haloacetic acids. Due to the structural similarity of haloacetic acids and their susceptibility to in source cracking, when multiple haloacetic acids are present simultaneously, their MRM channel signals will interfere with each other; And there may be interference from other new disinfection by-products such as halogenated methanesulfonic acid; For this purpose, this experiment attempted to use ion chromatography QTOF high-resolution mass spectrometry to detect disinfection by-products such as haloacetic acids. 11 types of haloacetic acids and 5 types of halogenated oxide ions (bromate, chlorite, chlorate, perchlorate, and iodate, among which perchlorate is generally classified as an inorganic ion pollutant) were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed simultaneously. The chromatographic conditions were optimized to distinguish between interfering analytes. MRMHR mode was adopted, and the detection limit and linear range of ion chromatography QTOF met the requirements of the national standard.