ABSTRACT
Mass spectrometers not only aim to achieve high sensitivity in sample matrices but also provide structural information on the basis of the molecular mass and fragmentation pattern using tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Electrospray ionisation and atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation (APCI) have become standard ionisation techniques for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-MS/MS systems used for the analysis of small molecules. Triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with an APPI interface was applied for the investigated dyes detection. The mixtures containing an organic modifier, water, salts and ammonia were rarely applied as mobile phases for the analysis of synthetic dyes. Most often separation of synthetic dyes was performed on C18 columns with mobile phases containing organic modifier, formate or acetate buffers at acidic pH. The HPLC directly coupled to mass spectrometry is the technique of choice for environmental monitoring of dyes because of its high sensitivity and ability to obtain structural information on unknown compounds.
