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Untargeted analysis of a composite house dust sample has been performed as part of a collaborative effort to evaluate the progress in the field of suspect and nontarget screening and build an extensive database of organic indoor environment contaminants. Twenty-one participants reported results that were curated by the organizers of the collaborative trial. In total, nearly 2350 compounds were identified (18%) or tentatively identified (25% at confidence level 2 and 58% at confidence level 3), making the collaborative trial a success. However, a relatively small share (37%) of all compounds were reported by more than one participant, which shows that there is plenty of room for improvement in the field of suspect and nontarget screening. An even a smaller share (5%) of the total number of compounds were detected using both liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Thus, the two MS techniques are highly complementary. Most of the compounds were detected using LC with electrospray ionization (ESI) MS and comprehensive 2D GC (GC×GC) with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and electron ionization (EI), respectively. Collectively, the three techniques accounted for more than 75% of the reported compounds. Glycols, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and various biogenic compounds dominated among the compounds reported by LC-MS participants, while hydrocarbons, hydrocarbon derivatives, and chlorinated paraffins and chlorinated biphenyls were primarily reported by GC-MS participants. Plastics additives, flavor and fragrances, and personal care products were reported by both LC-MS and GC-MS participants. It was concluded that the use of multiple analytical techniques was required for a comprehensive characterization of house dust contaminants. Further, several recommendations are given for improved suspect and nontarget screening of house dust and other indoor environment samples, including the use of open-source data processing tools. One of the tools allowed provisional identification of almost 500 compounds that had not been reported by participants.

Oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) contains a diverse mixture of inorganic and organic compounds. Naphthenic acids (NAs) are a subset of the organic naphthenic acid fraction compounds (NAFCs) and are a major contributor of toxicity to aquatic species. Thousands of unique chemical formulae are measured in OSPW by accurate mass spectrometry and high-resolution mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of NAFCs. As no commercial reference standard is available to cover the range of compounds present in NAFCs, quantitation may best be referred to as “semi-quantitative” and is based on the responses of one or more model compounds. Negative mode electrospray ionization (ESI-) is often used for NAFC measurement but is prone to ion suppression in complex matrices. This review discusses aspects of off-line sample preparation techniques and liquid chromatography (LC) separations to help reduce ion suppression effects and improve the comparability of both inter-laboratory and intra-laboratory results. Alternative approaches to the analytical parameters discussed include extraction solvents, salt content of samples, extraction pH, off-line sample cleanup, on-line LC chromatography, calibration standards, MS ionization modes, NAFC compound classes, MS mass resolution, and the use of internal standards.