Detection of monobromamine, monochloramine and dichloramine using selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry and their relevance as breath markers

We report a fast, sensitive, real‐time method to measure monobromamine, monochloramine and dichloramine using selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT‐MS). Relative rate coefficients and product distributions are reported for the reagent ions H3O+ and O 2+. Rapid reactions with the haloamines were observed with H3O+ and O 2+ but no fast reaction was found with NO+. A slow reaction between NO+ and dichloramine was observed. We demonstrate the feasibility of determining these compounds in a single human breath for which the limit of detection is approaching 10 parts per billion (ppb). We also report preliminary measurements of these compounds in the breath of individuals where the concentrations of bromamine and chloramine ranged from 10 to 150 ppb. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.