Monodisperse aerosol generators

MAGIC (Monodisperse Aerosol Generating Interface for Chromatography), Thermabeam and Universal interfaces. 

The droplet size delivered from a vibrating orifice monodisperse aerosol generator can be derived from the following expressions ... 

R.C. Willoughby and R.F. Browner, Monodisperse aerosol generation interface for combining liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry, Anal. Chem., 56 (1984) 2625-2631. 

Winkler, P.C. Perkins, D.D. Williams, D.K. Browner, R.F. Performance of an Improved Monodisperse Aerosol Generation Interface for Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry. Anal. Chem. 1988,60,489-493. 

MAGIC monodisperse aerosol generation interface for chromatography... 

P.C. Winkler, D.D. Perkins, W.K. Williams, R.F. Browner, Performance of an improved monodisperse aerosol generation interface for LC-MS, Anal. Chem., 60 (1988)489. 

The PBI was originally developed as a monodisperse aerosol generating interface for chromatography (MAGIC) by the research group of Browner [80-81]. The design objective of MAGIC was the development of an LC-MS interface with El capabilities, minimum peak distortion, and without a thermal desorption step, as is required in the MBI. 

These efforts are centered around the use of techniques including enzymatic hydrolysis [5,6,7], physical or chemical degradation [8,9], and monodisperse aerosol generation interface (particle beam) for HPLC/MS [10,11] to solve specific problems. This paper discusses the implementation of several HPLC/MS methods which offer a combination of sensitivity and specificity for compounds such as peptides, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides in complex matrices. 

Figure 11 Magnified diagrams of monodisperse aerosol-generating devices. (A) Spinning-disk aerosol generator. (B) Vibrating orifice aerosol generator.

A commercially available PBI interface was the product of results Willoughby and Browner obtained from monodisperse aerosol generation interface, also known by its acronym MAGIC-LC-MS [70]. But the impact on LC-MS analyses was reduced because of unsatisfactory detection Hmits associated with the use of a broad spectrum of analytes. This drawback could not be compensated by the advantage that the production of Hbrary-searchable El spectra represented. 

A particle-beam interface is a useful device that can provide library-searchable El spectra of LC-separated solutes [6,32-36]. This device uses a jet separator to free the solute molecules from volatile solvents and produces a high-velocity particle beam of gas-phase solute particles. The original device was termed MAGIC (monodisperse aerosol generating interface for chromatography) by its inventors [36]. 

The particle beam interface (Fig. 6) was created under the acronym MAGIC (monodisperse aerosol generator interface for chromatography) [28]. Now, the aerosol is produced by a variety of means (with auxiliary gas, thermospray, or ultrasonic nebulizers) at atmospheric pressure and a uniform distribution of the droplets results in particles of a narrow size distribution, which can be handled more efficiently by the separator. The droplets are dried to particles in a heated expansion chamber, and a momentum separator isolates the particles from the gas. In the source, the particles are destroyed by impact and the sample is released and ionized by using El, Cl, or even FAB. The appearance of the El spectra is almost identical to conventional El spectra obtained by direct probe or GC/MS. Therefore, library searches are possible, which is the major advantage of this interface. 

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