Household dust as a repository of chemical accumulation: New insights from a comprehensive high-resolution mass spectrometry study

• Published in: Environmental science & technology 2018-02, Vol.52 (5), p.2878-2887
• Main Authors: Moschet, Cristoph, Anumol, Tarun, Lew, Bonny M., Bennett, Deborah H., Young, Thomas M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b05767

Chemical exposure in household dust poses potential risks to human health but has been studied incompletely thus far. Most analytical studies have focused on one or several compound classes, with analysis performed by either LC-MS or GC-MS. However, a comprehensive investigation of individual dust samples is missing. The present study comprehensively characterizes chemicals in dust by applying a combination of target, suspect and non-target screening approaches using both LC-quadrupole time of flight (Q/TOF) and GC-Q/TOF. First, the extraction method was optimized to streamline detection of LC-Q/TOF and GC-Q/TOF amenable compounds and was successfully validated using over a hundred target compounds. Non-target screening with GC-Q/TOF was done by spectral deconvolution followed by a library search. Suspect screening by LC-Q/TOF was carried out using accurate mass spectral library. Finally, LC-Q/TOF non-target screening was carried out by extracting molecular features, acquiring tandem MS/MS spectra and performing compound identification using in-silico fragmentation software tools. In total, 258 chemicals could be detected in 38 dust samples; 166 of which could be unambiguously confirmed by a reference standard. Many of them, such as the plastic leachable 7,9-Di-tert-butyl-1-oxaspiro(4,5)deca-6,9-diene-2,8-dione (CASRN: 82304-66-3) and three organofluorine compounds are of emerging concern and their presence in dust has been underestimated. Advantages and drawbacks of the different approaches and analytical instruments are critically discussed.