Objective To establish a method for rapid determination of butyl xanthate in water based on ion chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry.

Methods Water samples were filtered through 0.22 μm filter membrane before analysis, and separation of butyl xanthate was performed on a Dionex IonPac AS 19 column (2 mm×250 mm, 7.5 μm), with the electrolytically generated eluent potassium hydroxide for gradient elution. An on-line suppressor was used to remove potassium ion from the eluent and then the eluent flow entered the mass spectrometer. A triple quadrupole mass spectrometer, equipped with electrospray ionization (ESI) in the negative ion mode, was used to measure butyl xanthate in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode, and the internal standard method was used for determination.

Results The linear range was (0.7-500)μg/L. The average recovery of butyl xanthate in tap water and river water ranged from 95.6% to 107.1%, with a relative standard deviation of 3.1%-11.2% (n=6). The limit of detection of this method was 0.2 μg/L.

Conclusion The method is simple, sensitive, and accurate, and is suitable for the determination of butyl xanthate in water. It has been successfully applied to the determination of butyl xanthate in water sample.