Mass atmospheric pressure

Most ion-molecule techniques study reactivity at pressures below 1000 Pa however, several techniques now exist for studying reactions above this pressure range. These include time-resolved, atmospheric-pressure, mass spectrometry optical spectroscopy in a pulsed discharge ion-mobility spectrometry [108] and the turbulent flow reactor [109]. 

Method 2. Place 90 g. of sodium benzenesulphonate (Section IV,29) (previously dried at 130-140° for 3 hours) and 50 g. of powdered phosphorus pentachloride (1) in a 500 ml. round-bottomed flask furnished with a reflux condenser heat the mixture in an oil bath at 170-180° for 12-15 hours. Every 3 hours remove the flask from the oil bath, allow to cool for 15-20 minutes, stopper and shake thoroughly until the mass becomes pasty. At the end of the heating period, allow the reaction mixture to cool. Pour on to 1 kilo of crushed ice. Extract the crude benzenesulphonyl chloride with 150 ml. of carbon tetrachloride and the aqueous layer with 75 ml. of the same solvent. Remove the solvent under atmospheric pressure and proceed as in Method 1. The yield is about 170 g., but depends upon the purity of the original sodium benzenesulphonate. 

Decomposition (fragmentation) of a proportion of the molecular ions (M +) to form fragment ions (A B+, etc.) occurs mostly in the ion source, and the assembly of ions (M +, A+, etc.) is injected into the mass analyzer. For chemical ionization (Cl), the Initial ionization step is the same as in El, but the subsequent steps are different (Figure 1.1). For Cl, the gas pressure in the ion source is typically increased to 10 mbar (and sometimes even up to atmospheric pressure) by injecting a reagent gas (R in Figure 1.1). 

The positive column is a region in which atoms, electrons, and ions are all present together in similar numbers, and it is referred to as a plasma. Again, as with the corona discharge, in mass spectrometry, plasmas are usually operated in gases at or near atmospheric pressure. 

The various stages of this process depend critically on the type of gas, its pressure, and the configuration of the electrodes. (Their distance apart and their shapes control the size and shape of the applied electric field.) By controlling the various parameters, the discharge can be made to operate as a corona, a plasma, or an arc at atmospheric pressure. All three discharges can be used as ion sources in mass spectrometry. 

The advent of atmospheric-pressure ionization (API) provided a method of ionizing labile and nonvolatile substances so that they could be examined by mass spectrometry. API has become strongly linked to HPLC as a basis for ionizing the eluant on its way into the mass spectrometer, although it is also used as a stand-alone inlet for introduction of samples. API is important in thermospray, plasmaspray, and electrospray ionization (see Chapters 8 and 11). 

The end or front of the plasma flame impinges onto a metal plate (the cone or sampler or sampling cone), which has a small hole in its center (Figure 14.2). The region on the other side of the cone from the flame is under vacuum, so the ions and neutrals passing from the atmospheric-pressure hot flame into a vacuum space are accelerated to supersonic speeds and cooled as rapid expansion occurs. A supersonic jet of gas passes toward a second metal plate (the skimmer) containing a hole smaller than the one in the sampler, where ions pass into the mass analyzer. The sampler and skimmer form an interface between the plasma flame and the mass analyzer. A light... 

Ions produced in the plasma must be transferred to a mass analyzer. The flame is very hot and at atmospheric pressure, but the mass analyzer is at room temperature and under vacuum. To effect transfer of ions from the plasma to the analyzer, the interface must be as efficient as possible if ion yields from the plasma are to be maintained in the analyzer. 

The term nebulizer is used generally as a description for any spraying device, such as the hair spray mentioned above. It is normally applied to any means of forming an aerosol spray in which a volume of liquid is broken into a mist of vapor and small droplets and possibly even solid matter. There is a variety of nebulizer designs for transporting a solution of analyte in droplet form to a plasma torch in ICP/MS and to the inlet/ionization sources used in electrospray and mass spectrometry (ES/MS) and atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization and mass spectrometry (APCI/MS). 

In one instrument, ions produced from an atmospheric-pressure ion source can be measured. If these are molecular ions, their relative molecular mass is obtained and often their elemental compositions. Fragment ions can be produced by suitable operation of an APCI inlet to obtain a full mass spectrum for each eluting substrate. The system can be used with the effluent from an LC column or with a solution from a static solution supply. When used with an LC column, any detectors generally used with the LC instrument itself can still be included, as with a UV/visible diode array detector sited in front of the mass spectrometer inlet. 

There are other characteristics of quadrupoles that make them cheaper for attainment of certain objectives. For example, quadrupoles can easily scan a mass spectrum extremely quickly and are useful for following fast reactions. Moreover, the quadrupole does not operate at the high voltages used for magnetic sector instruments, so coupling to atmospheric-pressure inlet systems becomes that much easier because electrical arcing is much less of a problem. 

As described above, the mobile phase carrying mixture components along a gas chromatographic column is a gas, usually nitrogen or helium. This gas flows at or near atmospheric pressure at a rate generally about 0,5 to 3.0 ml/min and evenmally flows out of the end of the capillary column into the ion source of the mass spectrometer. The ion sources in GC/MS systems normally operate at about 10 mbar for electron ionization to about 10 mbar for chemical ionization. This large pressure... 

To achieve sufficient vapor pressure for El and Cl, a nonvolatile liquid will have to be heated strongly, but this heating may lead to its thermal degradation. If thermal instability is a problem, then inlet/ionization systems need to be considered, since these do not require prevolatilization of the sample before mass spectrometric analysis. This problem has led to the development of inlet/ionization systems that can operate at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperatures. Successive developments have led to the introduction of techniques such as fast-atom bombardment (FAB), fast-ion bombardment (FIB), dynamic FAB, thermospray, plasmaspray, electrospray, and APCI. Only the last two techniques are in common use. Further aspects of liquids in their role as solvents for samples are considered below. 

When mass spectrometry was first used as a routine analytical tool, El was the only commercial ion source. As needs have increased, more ionization methods have appeared. Many different types of ionization source have been described, and several of these have been produced commercially. The present situation is such that there is now only a limited range of ion sources. For vacuum ion sources, El is still widely used, frequently in conjunction with Cl. For atmospheric pressure ion sources, the most frequently used are ES, APCI, MALDI (lasers), and plasma torches. 

In a vacuum (a) and under the effect of a potential difference of V volts between two electrodes (A,B), an ion (mass m and charge ze) will travel in a straight line and reach a velocity v governed by the equation, mv = 2zeV. At atmospheric pressure (b), the motion of the ion is chaotic as it suffers many collisions. There is still a driving force of V volts, but the ions cannot attain the full velocity gained in a vacuum. Instead, the movement (drift) of the ion between the electrodes is described by a new term, the mobility. At low pressures, the ion has a long mean free path between collisions, and these may be sufficient to deflect the ion from its initial trajectory so that it does not reach the electrode B. 

Thus, either the emitted light or the ions formed can be used to examine samples. For example, the mass spectrometric ionization technique of atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization (APCI) utilizes a corona discharge to enhance the number of ions formed. Carbon arc discharges have been used to generate ions of otherwise analytically intractable inorganic substances, with the ions being examined by mass spectrometry. 

Electrospray is both an atmospheric-pressure (API) liquid inlet system for a mass spectrometer, and, at the same time, it is an ionization source. 

Practical inlet systems for attaching a high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) column to a mass spectrometer utilize atmospheric-pressure ionization (see Chapters 8 and 11). 

Evaporation of solvent from a spray of electrically charged droplets at atmospheric pressure eventually yields ions that can collide with neutral solvent molecules. The assemblage of ions formed by evaporation and collision is injected into the mass spectrometer for mass analysis. 

Psychrometrics. Psychrometrics is the branch of thermodynamics that deals specifically with moist air, a biaary mixture of dry air and water vapor. The properties of moist air are frequentiy presented on psychrometric charts such as that shown ia Figure 2 for the normal air conditioning range at atmospheric pressure. Similar charts exist for temperatures below 0°C and above 50°C as well as for other barometric pressures. AH mass properties ate related to the mass of the dry air. 

Hydrochloric acid [7647-01-0], which is formed as by-product from unreacted chloroacetic acid, is fed into an absorption column. After the addition of acid and alcohol is complete, the mixture is heated at reflux for 6—8 h, whereby the intermediate malonic acid ester monoamide is hydroly2ed to a dialkyl malonate. The pure ester is obtained from the mixture of cmde esters by extraction with ben2ene [71-43-2], toluene [108-88-3], or xylene [1330-20-7]. The organic phase is washed with dilute sodium hydroxide [1310-73-2] to remove small amounts of the monoester. The diester is then separated from solvent by distillation at atmospheric pressure, and the malonic ester obtained by redistillation under vacuum as a colorless Hquid with a minimum assay of 99%. The aqueous phase contains considerable amounts of mineral acid and salts and must be treated before being fed to the waste treatment plant. The process is suitable for both the dimethyl and diethyl esters. The yield based on sodium chloroacetate is 75—85%. Various low molecular mass hydrocarbons, some of them partially chlorinated, are formed as by-products. Although a relatively simple plant is sufficient for the reaction itself, a si2eable investment is required for treatment of the wastewater and exhaust gas. 

Another big advance in the appHcation of ms in biotechnology was the development of atmospheric pressure ionization (API) techniques. There are three variants of API sources, a heated nebulizer plus a corona discharge for ionization (APCl) (51), electrospray (ESI) (52), and ion spray (53). In the APCl interface, the Ic eluent is converted into droplets by pneumatic nebulization, and then a sheath gas sweeps the droplets through a heated tube that vaporizes the solvent and analyte. The corona discharge ionizes solvent molecules, which protonate the analyte. Ions transfer into the mass spectrometer through a transfer line which is cryopumped, to keep a reasonable source pressure. 

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