Imaging Carcinogenic Aromatic Amines in Textiles by Surface Desorption Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Toluidine， a typical carcinogenic aromatic amine in textile sample was directly and non destructively detected by surface desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry(SDAPCI-MSⁿ). The protonated toluidine (m/z 108) and the characteristic fragment ( m/z　91) of the protonated toluidine were used as a molecular probe, respectively, to image the toluidine molecules in the sleeves dressed, without any sample pretreatment. As a result, the distribution of toluidine located in the textile sample was successfully visualized by the SDAPC-MS imaging, in which different colours shows different signal levels of the aromatic amine. The special resolution achieved was 0.2 mm², providing useful information of the aromatic amine to understand the distribution of carcinogenic aromatic amines in textiles.