Challenges and achievements of LC-MS in environmental analysis: 25 years on

10 pages, 7 figures, 1 table.-- Online version published Dec 19, 2006.In this overview article celebrating the 25th anniversary of TrAC, we will discuss the progress of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and LC-tandem MS (LC-MS2) in environmental analysis. The article will cover challenges and achievements of LC-MS in environmental analysis with emphasis on the developments that occurred over 20 years and the impact caused by the discovery of electrospray and its applications to organic trace analysis. We will also outline the history of TrAC in relation to the publication of papers dealing with LC-MS applied to environmental analysis.The second part of the article will be devoted to LC-MS2 as the preferred method of choice in environmental analysis. We will report on applications on the use of triple quadupoles and hybrid technologies (e.g., Qq-LIT. Qq-TOF and Orbitrap) for a variety of the so-called emerging contaminants (e.g., pharmaceuticals, pesticides and endocrine disruptors).Acknowledgements are due to Professor Udo A.Th. Brinkman and the late Professor Roland W. Frei for the opportunity to work at the Vrije Universiteit during my (DB) post-doctoral period from October 1985 till December 1986 using LC-DLI-MS for environmental analysis. This paper also corresponds to the lecture given at the Farewell Symposium dedicated to Prof. Brinkman at the Vrije Universiteit, in Amsterdam, 16 June, 2006.Peer reviewe