HalomethanesulfonicAcidsA New Class of PolarDisinfection Byproducts: Standard Synthesis, Occurrence, and IndirectAssessment of Mitigation Options

Halomethanesulfonic acids (HMSAs) are recently discovered polar disinfection by-products without commercially available reference materials. To allow for their accurate quantification, we successfully synthesized standards for the four presumably most prevalent HMSA congeners: chloromethanesulfonic acid, bromomethanesulfonic acid, dichloromethanesulfonic acid, and bromochloromethanesulfonic acid. After structure confirmation and quantification with high-resolution mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we integrated them into a multi-layer solid phase extraction and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography – tandem mass spectrometry method dedicated to the analysis of polar water contaminants. With this method we monitored HMSAs in drinking water production plants from four European countries and tap water samples taken in six countries. HMSAs were detected in the low µg/L after the chlorination step during drinking water production, all tap waters samples, and two surface wat...