Using a buffer gas modifier to change separation selectivity in ion mobility spectrometry

Abstract

The mobilities of a set of common α-amino acids, four tetraalkylammonium ions, 2,4-dimethyl pyridine (2,4-lutidine), 2,6-di-tert-butyl pyridine (DTBP), and valinol were determined using electrospray ionization-ion mobility spectrometry-quadrupole mass spectrometry (ESI-IMS–QMS) while introducing 2-butanol into the buffer gas. The mobilities of the test compounds decreased by varying extents with 2-butanol concentration in the mobility spectrometer. When the concentration of 2-butanol increased from 0.0 to 6.8 mmol m −3 (2.5 × 10 2 ppmv), percentage reductions in mobilities were: 13.6% (serine), 12.2% (threonine), 10.4% (methionine), 10.3% (tyrosine), 9.8% (valinol), 9.2% (phenylalanine), 7.8% (tryptophan), 5.6% (2,4-lutidine), 2.2% (DTBP), 1.0% (tetramethylammonium ion, TMA, and tetraethylammonium ion, TEA), 0.0% (tetrapropylammonium ion, TPA), and 0.3% (tetrabutylammonium ion, TBA). These variations in mobility depended on the size and steric hindrance on the charge of the ions, and were due to the formation of large ion-2-butanol clusters. This selective variation in mobilities was applied to the resolution of a mixture of compounds with similar reduced mobilities such as serine and valinol, which overlapped in N 2-only buffer gas in the IMS spectrum. The relative insensitivity of tetraalkylammonium ions and DTBP to the introduction of 2-butanol into the buffer gas was explained by steric hindrance of the four alkyl substituents in tetraalkylammonium ions and the two tert-butyl groups in DTBP, which shielded the positive charge of the ion from the attachment of 2-butanol molecules. Low buffer gas temperatures (100 °C) produced the largest reductions in mobilities by increasing ion-2-butanol interactions and formation of clusters; high temperatures (250 °C) prevented the formation of clusters, and no reduction in ion mobility was obtained with the introduction of 2-butanol into the buffer gas. Low temperatures and high concentrations of 2-butanol produced a series of ion clusters with one to three 2-butanol molecules in compounds without steric hindrance. Clusters of two and three molecules of 2-butanol were also visible. Ligand-saturation on the positive ions with 2-butanol molecules occurred at high concentrations of modifier (6.8 mmol m −3 at 150 °C); when saturated, no further reduction in mobility occurred when 2-butanol was introduced into the buffer gas.