Resolving Power of a Mass Spectrometer—the Key Factor in Environmental Analysis?

High-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) combined with chromatographic separation techniques is one of the most common and widespread methods in the study of environmental samples. Gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC–HRMS) is of great interest in the field of targeted and non-targeted analysis of various xenobiotics. Because of obvious limitations of the GC–HRMS method in terms of the analyzed organic substances, there has long been debates among researchers and users of modern GC–HRMS equipment about the expediency and justification of using high and ultra-high resolution. This paper considers a number of examples of the application of GC–HRMS both tor complex mixtures of polyhalogenated compounds and in routine analyses in an attempt to answer the question about the optimal resolution of a mass analyzer for GC–HRMS.