Surface-ionization methods and devices of indication and identification of nitrogen-containing base molecules

Abstract

The results of the development of methods and devices based on the effect of surface ionization (SI) and intended for the selective and sensitive registration and identification of the organic nitrogen base molecules in air and in mixtures of compounds for their chromatographic, ion mobility and mass-spectrometric analysis are presented. The main principles of the SI registration and identification of molecules are considered. The requirements that must be satisfied by devices implementing these principles are stated. The examples of the development of the effective and stable emitters, the simple-in-design diode SI detectors, the gas-chromatographic detectors, the SI gas analyzers of amines and the indicators and analyzers of narcotics including portable ones, SI ion mobility spectrometer and SI mass spectrometer are presented. They have a unique selectivity (up to 10 5–10 8 with respect to organic solvents) and ionization efficiency (up to ∼2·10 −1) of amines and their derivatives, including the degradation products of chemical warfare agents, tobacco alkoloids, triazine herbicides, narcotics and other abused medicinal preparations, as well as the sensitivity of up to 6 C/g and picogram level detection limits with a response dynamic range of 5–8 orders of magnitude.