GB-Lowestoft: for High resolution mass spectrometric analytical screens of cigarette butts, sediment and seawater

Tender description

There is a requirement for an analytical service for high resolution mass spectrometric (HRMS) screens to include: a) A series of quick tests with direct probe time of flight-mass spectrometry of coarse homogenates of cigarette butts (both freshly smoked and weathered) as a simple screen with a view to identify substances present at detectable concentrations. A list of substances of particular interest is provided at the end of this section for tenderers to consider. b) Suspect screening by liquid chromatography-HRMS, on accurate mass, isotopic and fragmentation patterns. Suspect screening should focus on identification and not initially on quantification of extracts of freshly smoked cigarette butts (n=1-3), discarded cigarette butts (n=1-3) and in seawater (n=5-10, minimum of 50ml available) and sediment samples (n=5-10, minimum of 30g available per sample). The sediment and cigarette butts may undergo an extraction and clean-up step (e.g. with SPE) in such a way that as few as possible compounds will be lost. c) A report with a summary of analytical methods and analytical results is expected. Please note that Cefas is intending to produce one peer reviewed publication for this work and might request additional information. Co-authorship to the paper is optional to tenderers, and conditional of a discount to overall pricing submitted in the Pricing Table (Schedule 2 below) . List of suspect substances: Ideally, the screens should be able to detect the following substances detected in smoked cigarettes and reported elsewhere as potentially harmful in aquatic organisms: nicotine (CAS No 54-11-5), ethylphenols (CAS No. 90-00-6, 620-17-7, 123-07-9), phenol (CAS No. 108-95-2), tobacco-specific N-nitrosamines (TSNA) such as N'-nitrosoanabasine (CAS No. 37620-20-5), N'-nitrosoanatabine (CAS No. 887407-16-1), N-nitrosonornicotine (CAS No 80508-23-2) and 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (CAS 64091-91-4); and also a range of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and pyridines (for example 3-methylpyridine, 3,5-dimethylpyridine, 3,4-dimethylpyridine, 4-ethylpyridine, 3-acetylpyridine, 3-vinylpyridine), acetaldehyde (CAS No 75-07-0), formaldehyde (CAS No. 50-00-0)