scholarly journals Constraining the response factors of an extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometer for near-molecular aerosol speciation

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 6955-6972
Author(s):  
Dongyu S. Wang ◽  
Chuan Ping Lee ◽  
Jordan E. Krechmer ◽  
Francesca Majluf ◽  
Yandong Tong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrospray Ionization ◽  
Mass Spectrometer ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
Ionization Mass ◽  
Molecular Response ◽  
Response Factor ◽  
Particle Phase ◽  
Aerosol Composition ◽  
Response Factors ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract. Online characterization of aerosol composition at the near-molecular level is key to understanding chemical reaction mechanisms, kinetics, and sources under various atmospheric conditions. The recently developed extractive electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (EESI-TOF) is capable of detecting a wide range of organic oxidation products in the particle phase in real time with minimal fragmentation. Quantification can sometimes be hindered by a lack of available commercial standards for aerosol constituents, however. Good correlations between the EESI-TOF and other aerosol speciation techniques have been reported, though no attempts have yet been made to parameterize the EESI-TOF response factor for different chemical species. Here, we report the first parameterization of the EESI-TOF response factor for secondary organic aerosol (SOA) at the near-molecular level based on its elemental composition. SOA was formed by ozonolysis of monoterpene or OH oxidation of aromatics inside an oxidation flow reactor (OFR) using ammonium nitrate as seed particles. A Vocus proton-transfer reaction mass spectrometer (Vocus-PTR) and a high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) were used to determine the gas-phase molecular composition and the particle-phase bulk chemical composition, respectively. The EESI response factors towards bulk SOA coating and the inorganic seed particle core were constrained by intercomparison with the AMS. The highest bulk EESI response factor was observed for SOA produced from 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene, followed by those produced from d-limonene and o-cresol, consistent with previous findings. The near-molecular EESI response factors were derived from intercomparisons with Vocus-PTR measurements and were found to vary from 103 to 106 ion counts s−1 ppb−1, mostly within ±1 order of magnitude of their geometric mean of 104.6 ion counts s−1 ppb−1. For aromatic SOA components, the EESI response factors correlated with molecular weight and oxygen content and inversely correlated with volatility. The near-molecular response factors mostly agreed within a factor of 20 for isomers observed across the aromatics and biogenic systems. Parameterization of the near-molecular response factors based on the measured elemental formulae could reproduce the empirically determined response factor for a single volatile organic compound (VOC) system to within a factor of 5 for the configuration of our mass spectrometers. The results demonstrate that standard-free quantification using the EESI-TOF is possible.

scholarly journals Constraining the response factors of an extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometer for near-molecular aerosol speciation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongyu S. Wang ◽  
Chuan Ping Lee ◽  
Jordan E. Krechmer ◽  
Francesca Majluf ◽  
Yandong Tong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrospray Ionization ◽  
Mass Spectrometer ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
Ionization Mass ◽  
Molecular Response ◽  
Response Factor ◽  
Particle Phase ◽  
Aerosol Composition ◽  
Response Factors ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract. Online characterization of aerosol composition at the near-molecular level is key to understanding chemical reaction mechanisms, kinetics, and sources under various atmospheric conditions. The recently developed extractive electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (EESI-TOF) is capable of detecting a wide range of organic oxidation products in the particle phase in real time with minimal fragmentation. Quantification can sometimes be hindered by a lack of available commercial standards for aerosol constituents, however. Good correlations between the EESI-TOF and other aerosol speciation techniques have been reported, though no attempts have yet been made to parameterize the EESI-TOF response factor for different chemical species. Here, we report the first parameterization of the response factors of the EESI-TOF for secondary organic aerosol (SOA) at the near-molecular level based on their elemental composition. SOA was formed by ozonolysis of monoterpenes or OH-oxidation of aromatics inside an oxidation flow reactor (OFR) using ammonium nitrate as seed particles. A Vocus proton-transfer reaction mass spectrometer (Vocus-PTR) and a high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) were used to determine the gas phase molecular composition and the particle phase bulk chemical composition, respectively. The EESI response factors towards bulk SOA and the inorganic coating were constrained by intercomparison with the AMS. The highest bulk EESI response factor was observed for SOA produced from 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene, followed by those produced from d-limonene and o-cresol, consistent with previous findings. The near-molecular EESI response factors were derived from intercomparisons with Vocus-PTR measurements, and were found to vary from 103 to 106 ions s−1 ppb−1, mostly within ±1 order of magnitude of their geometric mean of 104.5 ions s−1 ppb−1. For aromatic SOA components, the EESI response factors correlated with molecular weight and oxygen content, and inversely correlated with volatility. The near-molecular response factors agreed within a factor of 20 for isomers observed across the aromatics and biogenic systems. Parameterization of the near-molecular response factors based on the measured elemental formulae could reproduce the empirically determined response factor for a single VOC system to within a factor of 5 for the configuration of our mass spectrometers. Results demonstrate that standard-free quantification using EESI-TOF is possible.

Composition of ultrafine particles in urban Beijing: Measurement using a thermal desorption chemical ionization mass spectrometer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoxiao Li ◽  
Yuyang Li ◽  
Michael Lawler ◽  
Jiming Hao ◽  
James Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometer ◽  
Thermal Desorption ◽  
Ultrafine Particles ◽  
Chemical Ionization ◽  
Urban Atmosphere ◽  
Ionization Mass ◽  
Radioactive Materials ◽  
Desorption Chemical Ionization ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Primary Emissions

<p>Ultrafine particles (UFPs) dominate the particle number population in the urban atmosphere and revealing their chemical composition is important. The thermal desorption chemical ionization mass spectrometer (TDCIMS) can semi-continuously measure UFP composition at the molecular level. We modified a TDCIMS and deployed it in urban Beijing. Radioactive materials in the TDCIMS for aerosol charging and chemical ionization were replaced by soft X-ray ionizers so that it can be operated in countries with tight regulations on radioactive materials. Protonated N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone ions were used as the positive reagent ion, which selectively detects ammonia and low-molecular weight-aliphatic amines and amides vaporized from the particle phase. With superoxide as the negative reagent ion, a wide range of inorganic and organic compounds were observed, including nitrate, sulfate, aliphatic acids with carbon numbers up to 18, and highly oxygenated CHO, CHON, and CHOS compounds. The latter two can be attributed to parent ions or the decomposition products of organonitrates and organosulfates/organosulfonates, respectively. Components from both primary emissions and secondary formation of UFPs were identified. Compared to the UFPs measured at forest and marine sites, those in urban Beijing contain more nitrogen-containing and sulfur-containing compounds. These observations illustrate unique features of the UFPs in this polluted urban environment and provide insights into their origins.</p>

scholarly journals Phase partitioning and volatility of secondary organic aerosol components formed from α-pinene ozonolysis and OH oxidation: the importance of accretion products and other low volatility compounds

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (14) ◽  
pp. 7765-7776 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. D. Lopez-Hilfiker ◽  
C. Mohr ◽  
M. Ehn ◽  
F. Rubach ◽  
E. Kleist ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Mass Spectrometer ◽  
Secondary Organic Aerosol ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Oxidation Products ◽  
Negative Ion ◽  
Ionization Mass ◽  
Particle Phase ◽  
Vapor Pressures ◽  
Aerosol Mass

Abstract. We measured a large suite of gas- and particle-phase multi-functional organic compounds with a Filter Inlet for Gases and AEROsols (FIGAERO) coupled to a high-resolution time-of-flight chemical ionization mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-CIMS) developed at the University of Washington. The instrument was deployed on environmental simulation chambers to study monoterpene oxidation as a secondary organic aerosol (SOA) source. We focus here on results from experiments utilizing an ionization method most selective towards acids (acetate negative ion proton transfer), but our conclusions are based on more general physical and chemical properties of the SOA. Hundreds of compounds were observed in both gas and particle phases, the latter being detected by temperature-programmed thermal desorption of collected particles. Particulate organic compounds detected by the FIGAERO–HR-ToF-CIMS are highly correlated with, and explain at least 25–50 % of, the organic aerosol mass measured by an Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS). Reproducible multi-modal structures in the thermograms for individual compounds of a given elemental composition reveal a significant SOA mass contribution from high molecular weight organics and/or oligomers (i.e., multi-phase accretion reaction products). Approximately 50 % of the HR-ToF-CIMS particle-phase mass is associated with compounds having effective vapor pressures 4 or more orders of magnitude lower than commonly measured monoterpene oxidation products. The relative importance of these accretion-type and other extremely low volatility products appears to vary with photochemical conditions. We present a desorption-temperature-based framework for apportionment of thermogram signals into volatility bins. The volatility-based apportionment greatly improves agreement between measured and modeled gas-particle partitioning for select major and minor components of the SOA, consistent with thermal decomposition during desorption causing the conversion of lower volatility components into the detected higher volatility compounds.

scholarly journals Coupling a gas chromatograph simultaneously to a flame ionization detector and chemical ionization mass spectrometer for isomer-resolved measurements of particle-phase organic compounds

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chenyang Bi ◽  
Jordan E. Krechmer ◽  
Graham O. Frazier ◽  
Wen Xu ◽  
Andrew T. Lambe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Groups ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Mass Spectrometer ◽  
Chemical Ionization ◽  
Measurement Techniques ◽  
Oxidation Products ◽  
Ionization Mass ◽  
Particle Phase ◽  
Gas Chromatograph ◽  
New Instrument

Abstract. Atmospheric oxidation products of volatile organic compounds consist of thousands of unique chemicals that have distinctly different physical and chemical properties depending on their detailed structures and functional groups. Measurement techniques that can achieve molecular characterizations with details down to functional groups (i.e., isomer-resolved resolution) are consequently necessary to provide understandings of differences of fate and transport within isomers produced in the oxidation process. We demonstrate a new instrument coupling the thermal desorption aerosol gas chromatograph (TAG), which enables the separation of isomers, with the high-resolution time-of-flight chemical ionization mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-CIMS), which has the capability of classifying unknown compounds by their molecular formulas, and the flame ion detector (FID), which provide a near-universal response to organic compounds. The TAG-CIMS/FID is used to provide isomer-resolved measurements of samples from liquid standard injections and particle-phase organics generated in oxidation flow reactors. By coupling a TAG to a CIMS, the CIMS is enhanced with an additional dimension of information (resolution of individual molecules) at the cost of time resolution (i.e., one sample per hour instead of per minute). We found that isomers are prevalent in sample matrix with an average number of three to five isomers per formula depending on the precursors in the oxidation experiments. Additionally, a multi-reagent ionization mode is investigated in which both zero air and iodide are introduced as reagent ions, to examine the feasibility of extending the use of an individual CIMS to a broader range of analytes with still selective reagent ions. While this approach reduces iodide-adduct ions by a factor of two, [M−H]− and [M+O2]− ions produced from lower-polarity compounds increase by a factor of five to ten, improving their detection by CIMS. The method expands the range of detected chemical species by using two chemical ionization reagents simultaneously, enabled by the pre-separation of analyte molecules before ionization.

scholarly journals Revisiting benzene cluster cations for the chemical ionization of dimethyl sulfide and select volatile organic compounds

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 10121-10157 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Kim ◽  
M. C. Zoerb ◽  
N. R. Campbell ◽  
K. J. Zimmermann ◽  
B. W. Blomquist ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Volatile Organic Compounds ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Mass Spectrometer ◽  
Chemical Ionization ◽  
Dimethyl Sulfide ◽  
Marine Boundary Layer ◽  
Ionization Mass ◽  
Select Group ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Volatile Organic

Abstract. Benzene cluster cations were revisited as a sensitive and selective reagent ion for the chemical ionization of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and a select group of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Laboratory characterization was performed using both a new set of compounds (i.e. DMS, β-caryophyllene) as well as previously studied VOCs (i.e., isoprene, α-pinene). Using a field deployable chemical ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (CI-ToFMS), benzene cluster cations demonstrated high sensitivity (> 1 ncps ppt−1) to DMS, isoprene, and α-pinene standards. Parallel measurements conducted using a chemical-ionization quadrupole mass spectrometer, with a weaker electric field, demonstrated that ion-molecule reactions likely proceed through a combination of ligand-switching and direct charge transfer mechanisms. Laboratory tests suggest that benzene cluster cations may be suitable for the selective ionization of sesquiterpenes, where minimal fragmentation (< 25 %) was observed for the detection of β-caryophyllene, a bicyclic sesquiterpene. The field stability of benzene cluster cations using CI-ToFMS was examined in the marine boundary layer during the High Wind Gas Exchange Study (HiWinGS). The use of benzene cluster cation chemistry for the selective detection of DMS was validated against an atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometer. Measurements from the two instruments were highly correlated (R2=0.80) over a wide range of sampling conditions.

scholarly journals Constraining the sensitivity of iodide adduct chemical ionization mass spectrometry to multifunctional organic molecules using the collision limit and thermodynamic stability of iodide ion adducts

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1505-1512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe D. Lopez-Hilfiker ◽  
Siddarth Iyer ◽  
Claudia Mohr ◽  
Ben H. Lee ◽  
Emma L. D'Ambro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Mass Spectrometer ◽  
Chemical Ionization ◽  
Organic Molecules ◽  
Transmission Efficiency ◽  
Molecular Ions ◽  
Ionization Mass ◽  
Aerosol Composition ◽  
Molecule Reaction ◽  
Scanning Procedure

Abstract. The sensitivity of a chemical ionization mass spectrometer (ions formed per number density of analytes) is fundamentally limited by the collision frequency between reagent ions and analytes, known as the collision limit, the ion–molecule reaction time, and the transmission efficiency of product ions to the detector. We use the response of a time-of-flight chemical ionization mass spectrometer (ToF-CIMS) to N2O5, known to react with iodide at the collision limit, to constrain the combined effects of ion–molecule reaction time, which is strongly influenced by mixing and ion losses in the ion–molecule reaction drift tube. A mass spectrometric voltage scanning procedure elucidates the relative binding energies of the ion adducts, which influence the transmission efficiency of molecular ions through the electric fields within the vacuum chamber. Together, this information provides a critical constraint on the sensitivity of a ToF-CIMS towards a wide suite of routinely detected multifunctional organic molecules for which no calibration standards exist. We describe the scanning procedure and collision limit determination, and we show results from the application of these constraints to the measurement of organic aerosol composition at two different field locations.

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