Ionization, atmospheric pressure electron impact

Organic compounds can be ionized in many ways those of primary interest for use with chromatographic inlets include electron impact, chemical ionization, atmospheric pressure ionization (electrospray and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization), thermospray, and fast atom bombardment [7,8]. 

Ionization Methods Overview Electron Impact and Chemical Ionization Atmospheric Pressure Ionization Techniques Electrospray... 

An on-line chromatography/atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-APCI/MS/MS) methods was developed for rapid screen of pharmacokinetics of different drugs, including 5 (98RCM1216). The electron impact mass spectrum of 5 and ethyl 9,10-difluoro-3-methyl-7-oxo-2,3-dihydro-7Ff-pyrido[l,2,3- fe]-l,4-benzoxazine-6-carboxylate was reported (97MI28). Electron impact/Fourier transform... 

Chromatography is typically at atmospheric pressure while source pressures in the mass spectrometer are in the range of 2 to 10 Torr for chemical and electron impact ionization, respectively. The interface must be capable of providing an adequate pressure drop between the two instruments and should also maximize the throughput of seuaple idiile maintaining a gas flow rate compatible with the source operating pressure. Further, the Interface should not introduce excessive dead volume at the column exit and should not degrade or modify the chemical constitution of the sample. 

A detailed description of sources used in atmospheric pressure ionization by electrospray or chemical ionization has been compiled.2 Atmospheric pressure has been used in a wide array of applications with electron impact, chemical ionization, pressure spray ionization (ionization when the electrode is below the threshold for corona discharge), electrospray ionization, and sonic spray ionization.3 Interferences potentially include overlap of ions of about the same mass-charge ratio, mobile-phase components, formation of adducts such as alkali metal ions, and suppression of ionization by substances more easily ionized than the analyte.4 A number of applications of mass spectroscopy are given in subsequent chapters. However, this section will serve as a brief synopsis, focusing on key techniques. 

Electron impact ionization, also known as particle beam ionization, has been applied to the online determination of steroids such as hydrocortisone, cortisone, prednisolone and prednisone. Polymer additives such as NC-4, Irga-nox 1076,1-octadecanol and Naugard -XL were identified and quantitated online by electron impact and, separately, by atmospheric pressure chemical ionization methods.78... 

Fig. 1.6 (A) Electron impact spectrum obtained on a single quadrupole mass spectrometer of a compound with Mr = 355. (B) Product ion spectrum after atmospheric pressure ionization obtained on a triple quadrupole instrument. Chemical ionization and atmospheric pressure ionization give in both cases protonated precursor ions, which is ideal for tandem mass spectrometry.

Mass Spectrometry Mass to charge ratio (m/z) allows specific compound ID determination. Several t)rpes of ionization techniques electrospray, atmospheric pressure chemical ionization, electron impact. The detector usually contains low volume cell through which the mobile phase passes carrpng the sample components. 

A striking feature of the ILs is their low vapor pressure. This, on the other hand, is a factor hampering their investigation by MS. For example, a technique like electron impact (El) MS, based on thermal evaporation of the sample prior to ionization of the vaporized analyte by collision with an electron beam, has only rarely been applied for the analysis of this class of compounds. In contrast, nonthermal ionization methods, like fast atom bombardment (FAB), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI), ESI, and MALDI suit better for this purpose. Measurement on the atomic level after burning the sample in a hot plasma (up to 8000°C), as realized in inductively coupled plasma (ICP) MS, has up to now only rarely been applied in the field of IE (characterization of gold particles dissolved in IE [1]). This method will potentially attract more interest in the future, especially, when the coupling of this method with chromatographic separations becomes a routine method. 

Yerelzian, C., Jordan, A., Brevard, H., Lindinger, W. (2000) Identffication of volatile compunds iKing combined gas chromotography electron impact atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry. In Taylor, A.J., Roberts, D.D. (eds) Flavour Release, ACS Symposium Series 763. American Chemical Society, Washington, pp 58-72. 

Ion genera lion can be achieved in a number of ways electron impact (Eh ionization, chemical ionization (CI). fas I atom bombardment (FAB), matrix assisted taser desorption ionization (MAI.DI), eleclrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APC I are the most common methods,... 

Figure A.3A.1 Flow chart illustrating the selection of a suitable ionization technique for the mass spectrometric analysis of a sample. Abbreviations APCI, atmospheric pressure chemical ionization Cl, chemical ionization El, electron impact FAB, fast atom bombardment MALDI, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization.

They are still the workhorses of coupled mass spectrometric applications, as they are relatively simple to run and service, relatively inexpensive (for a mass spectrometer), and provide unit mass resolution and scanning speeds up to approximately 10,000 amu/s. This even allows for simultaneous scan/ selected ion monitoring (SIM) operation, in which one part of the data acquisition time is used to scan an entire spectrum, whereas the other part is used to record the intensities of selected ions, thus providing both qualitative information and sensitive quantitation. They are thus suitable for many GC-MS and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) applications. In contrast to GC-MS with electron impact (El) ionization, however, LC-MS provides only limited structural information as a consequence of the soft ionization techniques commonly used with LC-MS instruments [electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI)]. Because of this limitation, other types of mass spectrometers are increasingly gaining in importance for LC-MS. 

Strege summarized the technique of high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS) in dereplication of natural products. In contrast to earlier electron impact ionization (El), ESI technique is applicable to virtually any ion in solution with a soft ionization process. A comparison of ESI with fast atom bombardment (FAB), matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI), atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and other techniques demonstrates its superior sensitivity, compatibility and reliability when coupled with HPLC [51]. 

Since SFC is in its infancy, the same is true of the hyphenated techniques that involve it. In general, it would be expected that SCF/MS should use interfaces like GC/MS since the supercritical fluid mobile phases become gases when reduced to atmospheric pressure, but the conditions are more severe because of the higher (critical) pressure. OT columns, because of their low pressure drops, are favored. The two interfaces that have been used are a direct fluid injection (DFI) and a molecular beam apparatus. DFI has been used with packed columns26 and with OT columns,27 using both chemical ionization and electron impact ionization. For a more complete discussion of both interfaces, see the chapter on SFC in the ACS Symposium Series edited by Ahuja28 the recent review on LC/MS25 also contains considerable information about SFC/MS. 

Earlier methods of ionization applied to carotenoids, including electron impact (El), chemical ionization (Cl), a particle beam interface with El or Cl, and continuous-flow fast atom bombardment (CF-FAB), have been comprehensively reviewed elsewhere (van Breemen, 1996, 1997 Pajkovic and van Breemen, 2005). These techniques have generally been replaced by softer ionization techniques like electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI), and more recently atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI). It should be noted that ESI, APCI, and APPI can be used as ionization methods with a direct infusion of an analyte in solution (i.e. not interfaced with an HPLC system), or as the interface between the HPEC and the MS. In contrast, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) cannot be used directly with HPEC. 

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