Chemical Ionization Source Research Articles

Molecular-Level Understanding of the Major Fragmentation Mechanisms of Cellulose Fast Pyrolysis: An Experimental Approach Based on Isotopically Labeled Model Compounds.

Evaluation of the feasibility of various mechanisms possibly involved in cellulose fast pyrolysis is challenging. Therefore, selectively 13C-labeled cellotriose, 18O-labeled cellobiose, and 13C- and 18O-doubly-labeled cellobiose were synthesized and subjected to fast pyrolysis in an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization source of a linear quadrupole ion trap/orbitrap mass spectrometer. The initial products were immediately quenched, ionized using ammonium cations, and subsequently analyzed using the mass spectrometer. The loss or retention of isotope labels upon pyrolysis unambiguously revealed three major competing mechanisms-sequential losses of glycolaldehyde/ethenediol molecules from the reducing end (the reducing-end unraveling mechanism), hydroxymethylene-assisted glycosidic bond cleavage (HAGBC mechanism), and Maccoll elimination. Important discoveries include the following: (1) Reducing-end unraveling is the predominant mechanism occurring at the reducing end; (2) Maccoll elimination facilitates the cleaving of aglyconic bonds, and it is the mechanism leading to formation of reducing carbohydrates; 3) HAGBC occurs for glycosides but not at the reducing end of cellodextrins; 4) HAGBC and water loss are the predominant reactions for fast pyrolysis of 1,6-anhydrocellodextrins; and 5) HAGBC can proceed after reducing-end unraveling but unraveling does not occur once the HAGBC reaction pathway is initiated. Moreover, hydrolysis was conclusively ruled out for fast pyrolysis of cellobiose, cellotriose, and 1,6-anhydrocellodextrins up to cellotetraosan. No radical reactions were observed.

Reactive Olfaction Ambient Mass Spectrometry.

Chemical ionization of organic compounds with negligible vapor pressures (VP) is achieved at atmospheric pressure when the proximal sample is exposed to corona discharge. The vapor-phase analyte is produced through a reactive olfaction process, which is determined to include electrostatic charge induction in the proximal condensed-phase sample, resulting in the liberation of free particles. With no requirement for physical contact, a new contained nano-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (nAPCI) source was developed that allowed direct mass spectrometry analysis of complex mixtures at a sample consumption rate less than nmol/min. The contained nAPCI source was applied to analyze a wide range of samples including the detection of 1 ng/mL cocaine in serum and 200 pg/mL caffeine in raw urine, as well as the differentiation of chemical composition of perfumes and beverages. Polar (e.g., carminic acid; estimated VP 5.1 × 10-25 kPa) and nonpolar (e.g., vitamin D2; VP 8.5 × 10-11 kPa) compounds were successfully ionized by the contained nAPCI ion source under ambient conditions, with the corresponding ion types of 78 other organic compounds characterized.

Evaluating the performance of five different chemical ionization techniques for detecting gaseous oxygenated organic species

Abstract. The impact of aerosols on climate and air quality remains poorly understood due to multiple factors. One of the current limitations is the incomplete understanding of the contribution of oxygenated products, generated from the gas-phase oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), to aerosol formation. Indeed, atmospheric gaseous chemical processes yield thousands of (highly) oxygenated species, spanning a wide range of chemical formulas, functional groups and, consequently, volatilities. While recent mass spectrometric developments have allowed extensive on-line detection of a myriad of oxygenated organic species, playing a central role in atmospheric chemistry, the detailed quantification and characterization of this diverse group of compounds remains extremely challenging. To address this challenge, we evaluated the capability of current state-of-the-art mass spectrometers equipped with different chemical ionization sources to detect the oxidation products formed from α-Pinene ozonolysis under various conditions. Five different mass spectrometers were deployed simultaneously for a chamber study. Two chemical ionization atmospheric pressure interface time-of-flight mass spectrometers (CI-APi-TOF) with nitrate and amine reagent ion chemistries and an iodide chemical ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-CIMS) were used. Additionally, a proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer (PTR-TOF 8000) and a new “vocus” PTR-TOF were also deployed. In the current study, we compared around 1000 different compounds between each of the five instruments, with the aim of determining which oxygenated VOCs (OVOCs) the different methods were sensitive to and identifying regions where two or more instruments were able to detect species with similar molecular formulae. We utilized a large variability in conditions (including different VOCs, ozone, NOx and OH scavenger concentrations) in our newly constructed atmospheric simulation chamber for a comprehensive correlation analysis between all instruments. This analysis, combined with estimated concentrations for identified molecules in each instrument, yielded both expected and surprising results. As anticipated based on earlier studies, the PTR instruments were the only ones able to measure the precursor VOC, the iodide TOF-CIMS efficiently detected many semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) with three to five oxygen atoms, and the nitrate CI-APi-TOF was mainly sensitive to highly oxygenated organic (O > 5) molecules (HOMs). In addition, the vocus showed good agreement with the iodide TOF-CIMS for the SVOC, including a range of organonitrates. The amine CI-APi-TOF agreed well with the nitrate CI-APi-TOF for HOM dimers. However, the loadings in our experiments caused the amine reagent ion to be considerably depleted, causing nonlinear responses for monomers. This study explores and highlights both benefits and limitations of currently available chemical ionization mass spectrometry instrumentation for characterizing the wide variety of OVOCs in the atmosphere. While specifically shown for the case of α-Pinene ozonolysis, we expect our general findings to also be valid for a wide range of other VOC–oxidant systems. As discussed in this study, no single instrument configuration can be deemed better or worse than the others, as the optimal instrument for a particular study ultimately depends on the specific target of the study.

Hyphenation of ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography with atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation high resolution mass spectrometry: Part 2. Study of chromatographic and mass spectrometry parameters for the analysis of natural non-polar compounds

An analytical method based on Ultra-High-Performance Sub/Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (UHPSFC) coupled with High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HR-MS) equipped with an Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionisation source (APCI-Q-TOF-HRMS) was developed for the screening of various compounds in oily samples. The hyphenation was achieved using a hybrid UHPSFC system for the vegetable oil analysis, mainly composed of fatty acids, diacylglycerols, triacylglycerols but containing also some minor bioactive compounds. No split was used with this ionisation source in this optimized configuration, allowing the introduction of all compounds in the mass spectrometer, ensuring a better sensitivity. This configuration is preserving peak shapes and efficiency because the dead volume of this interface is optimized by the supplier for the hyphenation with open cell detectors such as Evaporative Light Scattering Detector (ELSD) or MS detectors. The influence of analytical conditions (UHPSFC and APCI parameters) on MS response was studied to understand the behaviour of analytes in UHPSFC-APCI-MS. The tested parameters were: the corona discharge value, the nebulising gas pressure, the drying gas flow rate, MS source temperature and the mobile phase flow rate (at constant modifier percentage). A factorial experimental design was carried out for this study, which displayed the major and negative role of increased nebulising gas pressure. The factorial design was renewed with the four remaining parameters, allowing to enlighten and explain their different effects on MS responses. Finally, some vegetable oils were analysed by UHPSFC-APCI-HRMS with these optimal conditions to determine the chemical structures of unknown compounds from oily samples.

Real-Time Detection of Gas-Phase Organohalogens from Aqueous Photochemistry Using Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry

Marine short-lived halogenated compounds, emitted from algae, phytoplankton, and other marine biota, significantly affect both the troposphere and the stratosphere. Here, we show that such compounds might also be photochemically produced through photosensitized reactions in surface water. Gas-phase products were detected and identified by high-resolution mass spectrometry, more particularly by means of an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization source coupled to an Orbitrap mass spectrometer. Under simulated solar irradiation, halogenated organic compounds were produced and detected in the gas phase when a proxy of dissolved organic matter, i.e., 4-benzoylbenzoic acid, was excited into its triplet state. We present a mechanism explaining the formation of a variety of such halogenated compounds. These photochemical reactions take place at the air/sea interface and are, therefore, a potential source of short-lived halogenated compounds in the atmosphere, participating in the tropospheric halogen cycle.

Identification of oxygen-containing aromatics in soluble portions from thermal dissolution and alkanolyses of Baiyinhua lignite

Baiyinhua lignite (BL) was sequentially treated in cyclohexane, CH3OH, CH3CH2OH, and (CH3)2CHOH at 300 °C to afford soluble portions (SPs) 1–4 (SP1–SP4), which were analyzed with a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS), and quadrupole exactive orbitrap mass spectrometer (QEOTMS) with atmosphere pressure chemical ionization source in negative-ion mode. In addition, it was characterized with a solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XRPES). The results show that aliphatic and aromatic carbons, accounting for 37.1% and 59.2%, respectively, are dominated in BL. Each aromatic cluster contains 2 rings on average with 3 substituent groups on each ring. According to the analysis with XRPES, –OH group is the most abundant existing form of oxygen in BL. The analysis with GC/MS shows that the most abundant group components are arenols in SP1 and SP2, and alkanoates in SP3. Thousands of oxygen-containing aromatics (OCAs) were resolved with the QEOTMS and the molecular masses are mainly in the range of 250–400 μ. The main OCAs detected are O1–O6 class species, dominated by O2–O5 class species, which could be mainly assigned to acidic species, such as alkylarenediols, alkylarenetriols, and alkylarenoic acids.

Formation of atmospheric molecular clusters consisting of methanesulfonic acid and sulfuric acid: Insights from flow tube experiments and cluster dynamics simulations

In coastal regions and ocean areas, methanesulfonic acid (MSA; CH3SO3H) is present in considerable concentrations in the gas-phase and aerosols. It has been shown that MSA could contribute to growth and possibly form initial molecular cluster, which may lead to aerosol formation. However, quantitative concentrations and thermodynamic properties of MSA and sulfuric acid (SA; H2SO4) in the presence of water (W; H2O) remain largely uncertain. In this study, flow tube reactor was used to investigate the effects of each reactant on new particle formation (NPF) in a multi-component system consisting of MSA, SA, and W. Particles were measured for different combinations of reactants. It showed that a different order for reactant addition led to different experimental results, where the added MSA vapor to the SA-W binary system presented an obvious bimodal structure, for ternary system with SA added to the MSA-W, the similar bimodal phenomenon was not observed. The composition of clusters in the air flow was further analyzed by the commercial Atmospheric Pressure Interface Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (APi-TOF-MS, Tofwerk AG), which is equipped with a homemade chemical ionization (CI) source, mass peaks corresponding to clusters that contain smaller MSA or SA molecules were clearly observed, indicating that these clusters are exist and stable. In addition, quantum chemistry calculation-based evaporation rate values were applied in a cluster dynamics model to yield formation rates of 2.6 × 102 cm−3 s−1 and cluster concentrations under different simulation conditions. This study could provide some insight into how acids interact in the atmosphere.

Identification of very long-chain (>C24) fatty acid methyl esters using gas chromatography coupled to quadrupole/time-of-flight mass spectrometry with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization source

Gas chromatography coupled to a quadrupole time-of-flight mass analyzer (QTOF) with an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source has been tested to study the ionization and mass spectrometric behavior of long-chain and very long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs, C18–24; VLC-PUFAs, >C24). The protonated molecule ([M+H]+), measured at accurate mass, became the base peak of the spectrum for all the studied compounds and was promoted by the addition of water into the source. This fact overcame the existing difficulties for the identification of VLC-PUFAs when using an electron ionization source (EI). The extensive fragmentation of PUFAs in this source is the main drawback due to the fact that since reference standards are not commercially available, final identification relies on retention time estimation. The application of GC−APCI-QTOF to the screening of lipid extracts from the eyes of different fish species added confidence to the identification of several VLC-PUFAs. Further investigation of ion ratios allowed to predict the position of key double bonds enabling the classification of VLC-PUFAs as ω3 or ω6 compounds. VLC-PUFAs spectra found in biological samples were compared to those obtained from corresponding peaks found in heterologous expression experiments of fish's Elovl4.

Mass spectrometric evaluation of the soluble species of Shengli lignite using cluster analysis methods

A coal was extracted and thermally dissolved with cyclohexane, acetone and methanol sequentially. The ultrasonic extracts and thermal dissolution (TD) products were analyzed using an Orbitrap mass spectrometer (MS) with an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization source in positive ion mode. Large amounts of MS data were obtained but there were challenges in obtaining meaningful information from the data. The purpose of cluster analysis is to reduce complex multivariate data into meaningful groups. Two cluster analysis methods, hierarchical cluster analysis and expectation maximum algorithm based on Gaussian mixture model (EMGM), run by R language were introduced to obtain in-depth statistical results for compounds in both extracts and TD products. Seven types of heteroatomic compounds (O1, O2, N1, S1, O1N1, O1S1 and N1S1) in the extracts under the condition of ultrasonic extraction with cyclohexane were clustered with EMGM and possible structures of the related models can be inferred by analyzing the relationship between carbon number and double bond equivalent. The application of cluster analysis will provide methodological guidance in studying the structure of coal molecules.

Evaluation of a New Reagent-Ion Source and Focusing Ion-Molecule Reactor for Use in Proton-Transfer-Reaction Mass Spectrometry.

We evaluate the performance of a new chemical ionization source called Vocus, consisting of a discharge reagent-ion source and focusing ion-molecule reactor (FIMR) for use in proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-TOF) measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air. The reagent ion source uses a low-pressure discharge. The FIMR consists of a glass tube with a resistive coating, mounted inside a radio frequency (RF) quadrupole. The axial electric field is used to enhance ion collision energies and limit cluster ion formation. The RF field focuses ions to the central axis of the reactor and improves the detection efficiency of product ions. Ion trajectory calculations demonstrate the mass-dependent focusing of ions and enhancement of the ion collision energy by the RF field, in particular for the lighter ions. Product ion signals are increased by a factor of 10 when the RF field is applied (5000-18 000 cps ppbv-1), improving measurement precision and detection limits while operating at very similar reaction conditions as traditional PTR instruments. Because of the high water mixing ratio in the FIMR, we observe no dependence of the sensitivity on ambient sample humidity. In this work, the Vocus is interfaced to a TOF mass analyzer with a mass resolving power up to 12 000, which allows clear separation of isobaric ions, observed at nearly every nominal mass when measuring ambient air. Measurement response times are determined for a range of ketones with saturation vapor concentrations down to 5 × 104 μg m-3 and compare favorably with previously published results for a PTR-MS instrument.

Detection of volatile organic compounds in the headspace above mold fungi by GC-soft X-radiation-based APCI-MS.

Mold fungi on malting barley grains cause major economic loss in malting and brewery facilities. Possible proxies for their detection are volatile and semivolatile metabolites. Among those substances, characteristic marker compounds have to be identified for a confident detection of mold fungi in varying surroundings. The analytical determination is usually performed through passive sampling with solid phase microextraction, gas chromatographic separation, and detection by electron ionization mass spectrometry (EI-MS), which often does not allow a confident determination due to the absence of molecular ions. An alternative is GC-APCI-MS, generally, allowing the determination of protonated molecular ions. Commercial atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) sources are based on corona discharges, which are often unspecific due to the occurrence of several side reactions and produce complex product ion spectra. To overcome this issue, an APCI source based on soft X-radiation is used here. This source facilitates a more specific ionization by proton transfer reactions only. In the first part, the APCI source is characterized with representative volatile fungus metabolites. Depending on the proton affinity of the metabolites, the limits of detection are up to 2 orders of magnitude below those of EI-MS. In the second part, the volatile metabolites of the mold fungus species Aspergillus, Alternaria, Fusarium, and Penicillium are investigated. In total, 86 compounds were found with GC-EI/APCI-MS. The metabolites identified belong to the substance classes of alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, substituted aromatic compounds, terpenes, and sesquiterpenes. In addition to substances unspecific for the individual fungus species, characteristic patterns of metabolites, allowing their confident discrimination, were found for each of the 4 fungus species. Sixty-seven of the 86 metabolites are detected by X-ray-based APCI-MS alone. The discrimination of the fungus species based on these metabolites alone was possible. Therefore, APCI-MS in combination with collision induced dissociation alone could be used as a supervision method for the detection of mold fungi.

Development and validation of fast liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometric (LC-APCI-QToF-MS) methods for the analysis of hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD) and triacetone triperoxide (TATP)

Two semi-quantitative, fast liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry methods have been developed using an atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation source in conjunction with an accurate mass detector (LC-APCI-QToF-MS) for the analysis of traces of the peroxide explosives hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD) and triacetone triperoxide (TATP). A comprehensive validation was conducted on each method and is presented herein. The limits of detection (LOD) for HMTD and TATP using these methods were determined to be 0.5 ng and 10 ng on column, respectively. The high mass accuracy and narrow mass detection window offer high selectivity with <2 ppm mass difference between measured and calculated values for HMTD.This paper supports recent work performed using ESI-TOF and Orbitrap that demonstrates that the 207.0614 ion observed during the analysis of HMTD is in fact [TMDDD + H]+, and not [M-1]+.

Direct Detection of Small n-Alkanes at Sub-ppbv Level by Photoelectron-Induced O2+ Cation Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry at kPa Pressure.

Direct mass spectrometric measurements of saturated hydrocarbons, especially small n-alkanes, remains a great challenge because of low basicity and lack of ionizable functional groups. In this work, a novel high-pressure photoelectron-induced O2+ cation chemical ionization source (HPPI-OCI) at kPa based on a 10.6 eV krypton lamp was developed for a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOFMS). High-intensity O2+ reactant ions were generated by photoelectron ionization of air molecules in the double electric field ionization region. The quasi-molecular ions, [M-H]+, of C3-C6 n-alkanes, gradually dominated in the mass spectra when the ion source pressure was elevated from 88 to 1080 Pa, with more than 3 orders of magnitude improvement in signal intensity. As a result, the achieved limits of detection were lowered to 0.14, 0.11, 0.07, and 0.1 ppbv for propane, n-butane, n-pentane, and n-hexane, respectively. The performance of the HPPI-OCI TOFMS was first demonstrated by analysis of exhaled small n-alkanes from healthy smokers and nonsmokers. Then the concentration variations of exhaled small n-alkanes of four healthy volunteers were analyzed after alcohol consumption to explore the alcohol-hepatoxicity-related oxidative stress. In summary, this work provides new insights for controlling the O2+-participating chemical ionization by adjusting the ion source pressure and develops a novel direct mass spectrometric method for sensitive measurements of mall n-alkanes.

Evaluation of an ion source with a tubular nebulizer for microflow atmospheric pressure chemical ionization

An atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source designed for microliter-per-minute flow rates (0.5–10.0 mm3/min) was constructed. A simple resistively heated 1/8 in. OD tube-based nebulizer, together with a corona-discharge electrode was positioned in front of the entrance capillary of a mass spectrometer. Working parameters of the ion source were optimized, and its performance was evaluated. The limit of detection for directly infused acridine was found to be lower for micro-APCI (10 fmol/s) than for conventional APCI (170 fmol/s), and the linear dynamic range was significantly wider for the micro-APCI source. The micro-APCI and conventional APCI sources provided similar, but not identical mass spectra. The micro-APCI source was used as a detector for high-performance liquid chromatography at 10 mm3/min; the limit of detection for acridine was 690 fmol, which was about ten times lower value than in conventional HPLC.

Simultaneous determination of eighteen nitro-polyaromatic hydrocarbons in PM2.5 by atmospheric pressure gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A new atmospheric pressure gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (APGC-MS/MS) was developed to simultaneously separate, identify and quantify 18 nitro-polyaromatic hydrocarbons (NPAHs) in air fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Compared with traditional negative chemical ionization (NCI) or electron impact ionization (EI)-MS/MS methods, APGC-MS/MS equipped with an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source provided better sensitivity and selectivity for NPAHs analysis in PM2.5.18 NPAHs were completely separated, and satisfactory linear response (R2 > 0.99), low instrumental detection limits (0.20–2.18 pg mL−1) and method detection limits (0.001–0.015 pg m−3) were achieved. Due to the reliable performance of the instrument, only minimal sample pretreatment is needed. It ensured the satisfactory method recovery (70%–120%) and qualified repeatability (RSD: 1.1%–17.2%), which met the requirement of trace analysis of NAPHs in the real environmental PM2.5. Using the developed method, the actual PM2.5 samples collected from Taiyuan, China in both summer and winter were analyzed, and 17 NPAHs but 2-nitrofluorene were detected and quantified. According to the obtained NAPH concentration results, the generation mechanism of NPAHs in PM2.5 and the effects on NPAHs formation caused by some ambient air pollutants were preliminarily discussed: secondary photochemical reaction might be the dominant source of NPAHs in PM2.5 collected from Taiyuan in both summer and winter; ambient air pollutants (NO2, SO2, CO) had more contribution on the NPAHs secondary formation of PM2.5 in winter.

Using Gas Phase Reactions of Hexamethylene Triperoxide Diamine (HMTD) to Improve Detection in Mass Spectrometry.

Our efforts to lower the detection limits of hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD) have uncovered previously unreported gas-phase reactions of primary and secondary amines with one of the six methylene carbons. The reaction occurs primarily in the atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source and is similar to the behavior of alcohols with HMTD [1]. However, unlike alcohols, the amine reaction conserves the hydrogen peroxide on the intact product. Furthermore, with or without amines, HMTD is oxidized to tetramethylene diperoxide diamine dialdehyde (TMDDD) in a temperature-dependent fashion in the APCI source. Synthesized TMDDD forms very strong adducts (not products) to ammonium and amine ions in the electrospray ionization (ESI) source. Attempts to improve HMTD detection by generating TMDDD in the APCI source with post-column addition of amines were not successful. Signal intensity of the solvent related HMTD product in methanol, [HMTD+MeOH2-H2O2]+ (m/z 207.0975), was understandably related to the amount of methanol in the HMTD environment as it elutes into the source. With conditions optimized for this product, the detection of 100 pg on column was accomplished with a robust analysis of 300 pg (1.44 pmol) routinely performed on the Orbitrap mass spectrometers. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

Characterization of harmonics and multi-charged peaks obtained by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

ABSTRACTThe differences between harmonics and multi-charged peaks in mass spectrometry are often not obvious. This work conducts experiments using both electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) sources with Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICR MS) to investigate the difference between harmonics and multi-charged peaks for the first time. In particular, organometallic compounds, which were characterized by the isotope distribution in ESI, were investigated in detail. A comparison of the peaks of the three charges with the three frequency doubling results at high-resolution mass spectra demonstrated that these peaks may be clearly differentiated from one another. Fullerene (C60) was characterized using APCI in the negative mode by FTICR MS provided further evidence. In addition, harmonics are unavoidable, but can be relatively weakened. These results are helpful to obtain accurate and comprehensive spectral information from FTICR MS.

Direct olive oil analysis by mass spectrometry: A comparison of different ambient ionization methods

Analytical methods based on ambient ionization mass spectrometry (AIMS) combine the classic outstanding performance of mass spectrometry in terms of sensitivity and selectivity along with convenient features related to the lack of sample workup required. In this work, the performance of different mass spectrometry-based methods has been assessed for the direct analyses of virgin olive oil for quality purposes. Two sets of experiments have been setup: (1) direct analysis of untreated olive oil using AIMS methods such as Low-Temperature Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LTP-MS) or paper spray mass spectrometry (PS-MS); or alternatively (2) the use of atmospheric pressure ionization (API) mass spectrometry by direct infusion of a diluted sample through either atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) or electrospray (ESI) ionization sources. The second strategy involved a minimum sample work-up consisting of a simple olive oil dilution (from 1:10 to 1:1000) with appropriate solvents, which originated critical carry over effects in ESI, making unreliable its use in routine; thus, ESI required the use of a liquid-liquid extraction to shift the measurement towards a specific part of the composition of the edible oil (i.e. polyphenol rich fraction or lipid/fatty acid profile). On the other hand, LTP-MS enabled direct undiluted mass analysis of olive oil. The use of PS-MS provided additional advantages such as an extended ionization coverage/molecular weight range (compared to LTP-MS) and the possibility to increase the ionization efficiency towards nonpolar compounds such as squalene through the formation of Ag+ adducts with carbon-carbon double bounds, an attractive feature to discriminate between oils with different degree of unsaturation.

A simple desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization method for enhanced non-volatile sample analysis

In this work, a simple desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (SDAPCI) source is studied and optimized for analyzing a wide variety of samples such as nonvolatile, volatile and biological samples. In this ion source, the heated mass inlet was used for sample desorption, and a solid needle was used to produce a corona discharge for ionization. The utilization of any additional gas or heater is not required in SDAPCI. Due to its high sensitivity, only a small amount of sample is needed. Sample loading and the consequent mass spectrometry analysis process could be easy and fast, which was demonstrated by the analyses of different types of samples ranging from non-volatile to volatile compounds. High-throughput analysis can be performed by SDAPCI source with minimum or no sample preparation.

Radiofrequency field enhanced chemical ionization with vacuum ultraviolet lamp for miniature time-of-flight mass spectrometer

It is difficult to rapidly and on-line detect trace volatile organic compounds for miniature mass spectrometry due to its limited sampling volume at slow pumping speed. In this paper, we developed a new radiofrequency field enhanced chemical ionization source (RF-ECI) with vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) lamp by coupling radiofrequency electric field and direct-current field together. The experiment results showed that the sensitivity of benzene, toluene, hydrogen sulfide and other compounds increased by 2–3 orders of magnitude under the introduction of RF-ECI comparing to traditional single photon ionization (SPI). At the same time, the reagent ion of O2+ realized the charge transfer reaction chemical ionization, and the RF-ECI effectively expanded the detection range of the VUV lamp based SPI. The VUV lamp has inherent advantages in the on-site analytical instrument for its small size and low power consumption, and the VUV lamp based RF-ECI miniature time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOFMS) has a limit-of-detection for H2S as low as 0.0571mg/m3, and it is expected to be used widely in the field of on-site rapid analysis.