Chemical ionization-mass

A third method for generating ions in mass spectrometers that has been used extensively in physical chemistry is chemical ionization (Cl) [2]. Chemical ionization can involve the transfer of an electron (charge transfer), proton (or otlier positively charged ion) or hydride anion (or other anion). 

Harrison A G 1992 Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry (Boca Raton, FL Chemloal Rubber Company)... 

Brodbelt J, Liou C-C and Donovan T 1991 Selective adduct formation by dimethyl ether chemical ionization is a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer and a conventional ion source Ana/. Chem. 63 1205-9... 

Molecular Identification. In the identification of a compound, the most important information is the molecular weight. The mass spectrometer is able to provide this information, often to four decimal places. One assumes that no ions heavier than the molecular ion form when using electron-impact ionization. The chemical ionization spectrum will often show a cluster around the nominal molecular weight. 

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). 

Much of the energy deposited in a sample by a laser pulse or beam ablates as neutral material and not ions. Ordinarily, the neutral substances are simply pumped away, and the ions are analyzed by the mass spectrometer. To increase the number of ions formed, there is often a second ion source to produce ions from the neutral materials, thereby enhancing the total ion yield. This secondary or additional mode of ionization can be effected by electrons (electron ionization, El), reagent gases (chemical ionization. Cl), a plasma torch, or even a second laser pulse. The additional ionization is often organized as a pulse (electrons, reagent gas, or laser) that follows very shortly after the... 

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). 

Some mild methods of ionization (e.g., chemical ionization. Cl fast-atom bombardment, FAB electrospray, ES) provide molecular or quasi-molecular ions with so little excess of energy that little or no fragmentation takes place. Thus, there are few, if any, normal fragment ions, and metastable ions are virtually nonexistent. Although these mild ionization techniques are ideal for yielding molecular mass information, they are almost useless for providing details of molecular structure, a decided disadvantage. 

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... 

As each mixture component elutes and appears in the ion source, it is normally ionized either by an electron beam (see Chapter 3, Electron Ionization ) or by a reagent gas (see Chapter I, Chemical Ionization ), and the resulting ions are analyzed by the mass spectrometer to give a mass spectmm (Figure 36.4). 

Liquids that are sufficiently volatile to be treated as gases (as in GC) are usually not very polar and have little or no hydrogen bonding between molecules. As molecular mass increases and as polar and hydrogen-bonding forces increase, it becomes increasingly difficult to treat a sample as a liquid with inlet systems such as El and chemical ionization (Cl), which require the sample to be in vapor form. Therefore, there is a transition from volatile to nonvolatile liquids, and different inlet systems may be needed. At this point, LC begins to become important for sample preparation and connection to a mass spectrometer. 

For solids, there is now a very wide range of inlet and ionization opportunities, so most types of solids can be examined, either neat or in solution. However, the inlet/ionization methods are often not simply interchangeable, even if they use the same mass analyzer. Thus a direct-insertion probe will normally be used with El or Cl (and desorption chemical ionization, DCl) methods of ionization. An LC is used with ES or APCI for solutions, and nebulizers can be used with plasma torches for other solutions. MALDI or laser ablation are used for direct analysis of solids. 

Some of the target molecules gain so much excess internal energy in a short space of time that they lose an electron and become ions. These are the molecular cation-radicals found in mass spectrometry by the direct absorption of radiation. However, these initial ions may react with accompanying neutral molecules, as in chemical ionization, to produce protonated molecules. 

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. 

The beam of substrate molecules then passes straight into the ion source (electron ionization, El, or chemical ionization. Cl) for ionization before entry into the mass analyzer. 

Direct liquid introduction interface. An interface that continuously passes all, or a part of, the effluent from a liquid chromatograph to the mass spectrometer the solvent usually functions as a chemical ionization agent for ionization of the solute. 

Physical Chemical Characterization. Thiamine, its derivatives, and its degradation products have been fully characterized by spectroscopic methods (9,10). The ultraviolet spectmm of thiamine shows pH-dependent maxima (11). H, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectra show protonation occurs at the 1-nitrogen, and not the 4-amino position (12—14). The H spectmm in D2O shows no resonance for the thiazole 2-hydrogen, as this is acidic and readily exchanged via formation of the thiazole yUd (13) an important intermediate in the biochemical functions of thiamine. Recent work has revised the piC values for the two ionization reactions to 4.8 and 18 respectively (9,10,15). The mass spectmm of thiamine hydrochloride shows no molecular ion under standard electron impact ionization conditions, but fast atom bombardment and chemical ionization allow observation of both an intense peak for the patent cation and its major fragmentation ion, the pyrimidinylmethyl cation (16). 

One of the reasons for lack offlterature was probably because environmental analysis depends heavily on gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, which is not suitable for most dyes because of their lack of volatility (254). However, significant progress is being made in analyzing nonvolatile dyes by newer mass spectral methods such as fast atom bombardment (EAB), desorption chemical ionization, thermospray ionization, etc. 

Although the conventional mass spectra of the five C- nitro derivatives of indazole are nearly identical, the corresponding metastable peak shapes associated with the loss of NO-can be used to differentiate the five isomers (790MS114). The protonation and ethylation occurring in a methane chemical ionization source have been studied for a variety of aromatic amines, including indazoles (80OMS144). As in solution (Section 4.04.2.1.3), the N-2 atom is the more basic and the more nucleophilic (Scheme 5). 

The chemical potentials and free energies of the 2-isoxazolines have also been studied and the electron impact and chemical ionization mass spectra determined (77MI41614). Fragmentation pathways and retrocycloadditions of various derivatives were discussed in these reports. 

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