一种基于离子迁移谱的气相色谱检测器及其应用

离子迁移谱作为气相色谱的检测器,兼有色谱的高分离能力和离子迁移谱的高灵敏度,有利于实现复杂混合物的实时在线监测。基于在色谱、离子迁移谱方面的研究基础,本实验室搭建了一套以离子迁移谱为检测器的气相色谱仪,分别对检测器的温度、总电压、尾吹气流速等参数进行了系统优化,并用于碘甲烷、1,2-二氯乙烷、四氯化碳和二溴甲烷4种卤代烃化合物的检测。实验结果表明,参数优化后的离子迁移谱检测器对碘甲烷、1,2-二氯乙烷、四氯化碳和二溴甲烷的检出限可分别达到2、0.02、1和0.1 ng,线性范围有两个数量级。离子迁移谱与气相色谱联用,其二维的分离能力可以为复杂混合物的准确定性提供更多的信息,还可以实现不同化合物的选择性检测。     

Electron capture ion mobility spectrometry for the selective detection of chlorinated and brominated species after capillary gas chromatography

This paper reports the first investigation of electron capture ion mobility spectrometry as a detection method for capillary gas chromatography. In previous work with negative ion mobility detection after gas chromatography, the principal reactant ion species were O₂^? or hydrated O₂^? due to the presence of oxygen in the drift gas. These molecular reactant ions have a mobility similar to chloride and bromide ions, which are the principal product ions formed by most halogenated organics via dissociative ion-molecule reactions. Oxygenated reactant ions thus interfere with the selective detection of chloride and bromide product ions. A recently described ion mobility detector design efficiently eliminated ambient impurities, including oxygen, from infiltrating the ionization region of the detector; consequently, in the negative mode of operation, the ionization species with N₂ drift gas were thermalized electrons. Thermalized electrons have a high mobility and their drift time occupies a region of the ion mobility spectrum not occupied by chloride, bromide, or other product ions. The result was improved selectivity for halogenated organics which ionize by dissociative electron capture. This was demonstrated by the selective detection of 4,4′-dibromobiphenyl from the components of a polychlorinated biphenyl mixture (Aroclor 1248).     

Time-of-flight ion mobility spectrometry and differential mobility spectrometry: A comparative study of their efficiency in the analysis of halogenated compounds

The ion mobilities of halogenated aromatics which are of interest in environmental chemistry and process monitoring were characterized with field-deployable ion mobility spectrometers and differential mobility spectrometers. The dependence of mobility of gas-phase ions formed by atmospheric-pressure photoionization (APPI) on the electric field was determined for a number of structural isomers. The structure of the product ions formed was identified by investigations using the coupling of ion mobility spectrometry with mass spectrometry (APPI-IMS-MS) and APPI-MS. In contrast to conventional time-of-flight ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) with constant linear voltage gradients in drift tubes, differential mobility spectrometry (DMS) employs the field dependence of ion mobility. Depending on the position of substituents, differences in field dependence were established for the isomeric compounds in contrast to conventional IMS in which comparable reduced mobility values were detected for the isomers investigated. These findings permit the differentiation between most of the investigated isomeric aromatics with a different constitution using DMS.     

Determination of soman and VX degradation products by an aspiration ion mobility spectrometry

An aspiration type ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) has been used to determine chemical warfare agent (CWA) degradation products from liquid samples. This technique is based on ion mobility which depends on the molecular weight, charge and shape. With this method, it is possible to measure the mobility distribution of positive and negative ion clusters simultaneously in six different electrodes. Each measuring electrode determines a different portion of the ion mobility distribution formed within the cell’s radioactive source. The strongest responses for all CWA degradation products and 2-propanol were seen in the order of sixth, fifth and second channels. On the basis of projection calculation, the fingerprints for 2-propanol and soman (GD; pinacolyl methylphosphonofluoridate) and VX o-ethyl-S-[2(diisopropylamino)ethyl] methylphosphonothioate) degradation products can be separated from each other. The detection levels for ethyl methylphosphonate (EMPA), pinacolyl methylphosphonate (PMPA), and ethylphosphonic acid (EPA) were 37.2 (37.2 μg/ml), 54.1 (54.1 μg/ml) and 55.1 ppm (55.1 μg/ml), respectively. However, the separation efficiency between different CWA degradation products was quite poor. The projections of these compounds were between 0.9976 and 0.9989, and this means that these fingerprints were identical. Thus, it is only possible to get one profile for all these degradation products of soman and VX. The data provided show that IMS is suitable as a simple technique for screening of CWA degradation products.     

The effect of humidity on sensitivity of amine detection in ion mobility spectrometry

Vaporized water molecules are unavoidably present in every ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) measurement. In general, this humidity is seen in positive mode IMS-spectra as protonated water clusters producing reactant ions. Clusters containing water molecules are also abundant among ions generated by an analyte. In this paper the influence of humidity on IMS-spectra was systematically investigated and determined by measuring different concentrations of a selected amine at various levels of humidity. The selected amine, trimethylamine (TMA), was chosen as the model analyte due to its atmospheric importance. During the measurements, surplus water vapor was introduced into the drift section inside the IMS instrument; the concentrations of both amine and water were adjusted by controlling the gas flows. The simultaneous presence of water vapor and analyte at various predefined concentrations revealed the sensitivity of the IMS-technique to water and the effect of moisture on the ion mobility distribution. The results indicated that the existence, positions and shapes of the peaks are strongly dependent on the amount of moisture. However, the sensitivity of detection is weakly dependent on humidity if this detection is based on monomer ion peak or the sum of peaks generated by the analyte, In addition, the main principles of the adjustment of sample and water concentrations are presented here.     

Solid phase micro-extraction coupled with ion mobility spectrometry for the analysis of ephedrine in urine

Quantitative solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) coupled with ion mobility spectrometry is demonstrated using the analysis of ephedrine in urine. Since its inception in the 1970's ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) has evolved into a useful technique for laboratories to detect explosives, chemical warfare agents, environment pollutants and, increasingly, for detecting drugs of abuse. Ephedrine is extracted directly from urine samples using SPME and the analyte on the fiber is heated by the IMS desorber unit and vaporized into the drift tube. The analytical procedure was optimized for fiber coating selection, extraction temperature, extraction time, sample pH, and analyte desorption temperature. The carryover effects, ion fragmentation characteristics, peak shapes, and drift times of ephedrine were also evaluated based on the direct interfacing of SPME to IMS. A limit of detection of 50 ng/mL of ephedrine in urine and a linear range of 3 orders of magnitude were obtained, showing that SPME-IMS compares well to other techniques for ephedrine and drug analysis presented in the literature.     

萃取纳升喷雾-离子迁移谱法现场快速筛查化妆品中8种禁用抗生素

采用萃取纳升喷雾结合离子迁移谱技术,建立了化妆品中8种禁用抗生素的现场快速筛查方法。对萃取纳升喷雾毛细管拉制条件、萃取纳升喷雾离子化条件、离子迁移谱检测条件等进行了详细考察和优化。在优化的实验条件下,8种禁用抗生素的方法检出限为20 mg/kg,离子迁移谱分析时间小于20 ms,单个样品全部检测时间不超过30 s。对于筛检出的疑似阳性样品,进一步采用超高效液相色谱-串联质谱进行确证。该方法流程简便、快捷高效,为化妆品中违禁组分的现场快速筛查提供了较为广阔的应用前景。     

Evaluation of false positive responses by mass spectrometry and ion mobility spectrometry for the detection of trace explosives in complex samples

Secondary electrospray ionization-ion mobility-time of flight mass spectrometry (SESI-IM-TOFMS) was used to evaluate common household products and food ingredients for any mass or mobility responses that produced false positives for explosives. These products contained ingredients which shared the same mass and mobility drift time ranges as the analyte ions for common explosives. The results of this study showed that the vast array of compounds in these products can cause either mass or mobility false positive responses. This work also found that two ingredients caused either enhanced or reduced ionization of the target analytes. Another result showed that an IMS can provide real-time separation of ion species that impede accurate mass identifications due to overlapping isotope peak patterns. The final result of this study showed that, when mass and mobility values were used to identify an ion, no false responses were found for the target explosives. The wider implication of these results is that the possibility exists for even greater occurrences of false responses from complex mixtures found in common products. Neither IMS nor MS alone can provide 100% assurance from false responses. IMS, due to its low cost, ease of operation, rugged reliability, high sensitivity and tunable selectivity, will remain the field method of choice for the near future but, when combined with MS, can also reduce the false positive rate for explosive analyses.     

Quantitative analysis of morphine and noscapine using corona discharge ion mobility spectrometry with ammonia reagent gas

Morphine and noscapine were determined using corona discharge ion mobility spectrometry. The detection limits were 5.6 × 10⁻¹¹ and 6.7 × 10⁻¹¹ g for morphine and noscapine, respectively. The linear dynamic ranges of the calibration plots for the compounds were about three orders of magnitude. The method has also been successfully applied for simultaneous determination of the compounds using the standard addition method.     

固相萃取-离子迁移谱法快速筛查祛痘类化妆品中14种抗菌药物

目前,主动性的现场稽查已成为市场监管的发展趋势,这需要在现场快速有效地筛查大量产品,评估是否含有非法添加化学药物,对有嫌疑的样品及时封存,再送至实验室进一步检验。离子迁移谱技术是近年来发展起来的快筛技术之一。实验采用固相萃取-离子迁移谱技术,建立了祛痘类化妆品中14种抗菌药物的快速筛查方法。对离子迁移谱检测条件、样品提取条件、固相萃取净化条件(固相萃取柱、淋洗液种类、洗脱液种类及体积)进行了详细考察与优化。最终使用80%(体积分数)乙腈水溶液(含0.2%(质量分数)三氯乙酸)作为样品提取溶液,提取后上样于活化后的弱阳离子交换柱(Oasis^® MCX固相萃取柱), 3.0 mL甲醇淋洗,1.0 mL 2%氨水甲醇洗脱,洗脱液直接进离子迁移谱检测。14种抗菌药物的迁移时间在11~17 ms之间,检出限为0.2~1.2 μg/g。同时,由于离子迁移谱法线性范围较窄,不能准确定量,建立了高效液色谱(HPLC)定量方法,用于固相萃取前处理步骤的优化和阳性样品的验证。25批化妆品样品中,筛查出1批阳性样品,与HPLC检测结果相符。该方法快速、简便、高效,显著降低了祛痘类化妆品基质对离子迁移谱检测14种抗菌药物的干扰,提高了检测灵敏度,有效降低了假阳性和假阴性的发生,可用于化妆品现场快速筛查,同时也扩大了离子迁移谱在化妆品等复杂基质中非法添加化学药物检测的应用范围。     

Determination of terpenes in humid ambient air using ultraviolet ion mobility spectrometry

Atmospheric humidity causes the major problem using ion mobility spectrometers (IMS) under ambient conditions. Significant changes of the spectra are decreasing sensitivity as well as selectivity. Therefore, the influence of humidity on the IMS signal was investigated in case of direct introduction of the analyte into the ionisation chamber and in case of pre-separation by help of a multi-capillary column (MCC). For direct analyte introduction, a significant decrease of the total number of ions in the range of 28-42% with increasing relative humidity was found. Simultaneously additional peaks in the spectra were formed, thus complicating the identification of the analytes. In case of pre-separation of the analyte, the spectra do not change with increasing relative humidity, due to the successive appearance of the analyte and the water molecules in the ionisation chamber. Detection limits were found in the range of 5 μg/m³ (about 1 ppbv) for selected terpenes and—with pre-separation—independent on relative humidity of the analyte. Without pre-separation, detection limits are in the same range for dry air as carrier gas but in the range of 200-600 μg/m³ when relative humidity reaches 100%. Thus, MCC-UV ion mobility spectrometry is optimally capable for the detection of trace substances in ambient air (e.g. indoor air quality control, process control, odour detection) without further elaborate treatment of the carrier gas containing the analyte and independent on relative humidity.     

A selective GC column for trace analysis of vinyl chloride in air

Summary A selective GC column for the determination of vinyl chloride monomer in air has been developed. The 1.5m×1/8 column is filled with a mixture of Porapack S and T (8020). The selectivity was tested with 21 possible pollutants. All of the tested compounds were separated from vinyl chloride.     

Determination of trace organic chlorides in hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles by gas chromatography coupled with ion mobility spectrometry

A method for the determination of organic chlorides in hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles by gas chromatography coupled with ion mobility spectrometry was established. Organic chlorides were separated by a non-polar gas chromatography column and detected in the negative ion mode of the ion mobility spectrometer. The effect of operating parameters of ion mobility spectrometer including drift gas flow rate and drift tube temperature on sensitivity and resolution were evaluated. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limits of seven organic chlorides were from 0.65 to 6.73 nmol/mol, which met the requirement of detection for the specification limit of 50 nmol/mol of total halogen impurities in hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles. Compared with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and gas chromatography coupled with electron capture detector under the same gas chromatography conditions, gas chromatography coupled with ion mobility spectrometry method demonstrated higher sensitivity for detection of organic chlorides under study. Based on the portability of the device and its detection capabilities, gas chromatography coupled with ion mobility spectrometry has the potential to perform online detection of impurities in hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles.     

Evaluation of ion mobility in capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry for the identification in metabolomics

Currently, feature annotation remains one of the main challenges in untargeted metabolomics. In this context, the information provided by high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) in addition to accurate mass can improve the quality of metabolite annotation, and MS/MS fragmentation patterns are widely used. Accurate mass and a separation index, such as retention time or effective mobility (μ_eff), in chromatographic and electrophoretic approaches, respectively, must be used for unequivocal metabolite identification. The possibility of measuring collision cross-section (CCS) values by using ion mobility (IM) is becoming increasingly popular in metabolomic studies thanks to the new generation of IM mass spectrometers. Based on their similar separation mechanisms involving electric field and the size of the compounds, the complementarity of ^DTCCS_N2 and μ_eff needs to be evaluated. In this study, a comparison of ^DTCCS_N2 and μ_eff was achieved in the context of feature identification ability in untargeted metabolomics by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) coupled with HRMS. This study confirms the high correlation of ^DTCCS_N2 with the mass of the studied metabolites as well as the orthogonality between accurate mass and μ_eff, making this combination particularly interesting for the identification of several endogenous metabolites. The use of IM-MS remains of great interest for facilitating the annotation of neutral metabolites present in the electroosmotic flow (EOF) that are poorly or not separated by CZE.     

Static headspace‐multicapillary column with gas chromatography coupled to ion mobility spectrometry as a simple approach for the discrimination of crude and processed traditional Chinese medicines

The processing procedure can alter the nature and chemical transformation of traditional Chinese medicine to accommodate different clinical dispensing and preparation requirements. In this study, static headspace‐multicapillary column with gas chromatography coupled to ion mobility spectrometry was developed for the rapid and sensitive discrimination of crude and processed traditional Chinese medicine. Using Radix Paeoniae Alba as a traditional Chinese medicine model, the combined power of this approach was illustrated by classifying the crude and processed Radix Paeoniae Alba samples into two main categories. The contents of the main components in Radix Paeoniae Alba varied significantly. The established method could promote the use of ion mobility spectrometry in intrinsic quality control and differentiation of herbal medicines from other processed products or preparations.     

Rapid screening of precursor and degradation products of chemical warfare agents in soil by solid-phase microextraction ion mobility spectrometry (SPME-IMS)

The use of solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled to ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) to detect precursor and degradation products of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) as soil contaminants was investigated. The development and characterization of a system to interface a thermal desorption solid-phase microextraction inlet with a hand held ion mobility spectrometer was demonstrated. The analytes used in this study were diisopropyl methylphosphonate (DIMP), diethyl methylphosphonate (DEMP), and dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP). Two SPME fibers with different stationary phases, 100 μm polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and 65 μm polydimethylsiloxane divinylbenzene (PDMS/DVB), were evaluated in this study to determine the optimal fiber and extraction conditions. Better results were obtained with the PDMS fiber. SPME-IMS offered good repeatability and detection of the precursor and degradation products in spiked soil at concentrations as low as 10 μg/g. Sample analysis time was less than 30 min for all the precursor and degradation products.     

Identity confirmation of drugs and explosives in ion mobility spectrometry using a secondary drift gas

This work demonstrated the potential of using a secondary drift gas of differing polarizability from the primary drift gas for confirmation of a positive response for drugs or explosives by ion mobility spectrometry (IMS). The gas phase mobilities of response ions for selected drugs and explosives were measured in four drift gases. The drift gases chosen for this study were air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide providing a range of polarizability and molecular weights. Four other drift gases (helium, neon, argon and sulfur hexafluoride) were also investigated but design limitations of the commercial instrument prevented their use for this application. When ion mobility was plotted against drift gas polarizability, the resulting slopes were often unique for individual ions, indicating that selectivity factors between any two analytes varied with the choice of drift gas. In some cases, drugs like THC and heroin, which are unresolved in air or nitrogen, were well resolved in carbon dioxide or nitrous oxide.     

Analysis of earthy and musty odors in water samples by solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography/ion trap mass spectrometry

A method for the determination of the earthy and musty odors geosmin, 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB), 2-isobutyl-3-methoxy pyrazine (IBMP), 2-isopropyl-3-methoxy pyrazine (IPMP) and 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (2,4,6-TCA) in water by headspace solid-phase microextraction (HSSPME) combined with gas chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry (GC-ITMS) is described. Several parameters of the extraction and desorption procedure were studied and optimized (such as types of fibers, extraction temperature, extraction time, desorption temperature, desorption time, ionic strength and elutropic strength and pH of samples). The method shows good linearity over the concentration range 1-500 ng l⁻¹ and gives detection limits of sub-part per trillion levels for all compounds. Good precision (5.9-9.8%) is obtained using IBMP as internal standard. Finally, the method was successfully applied to analyze earthy and musty odors in tap water and lake water.     

气相色谱-负化学离子源质谱法测定聚氯乙烯塑料中的短链氯化石蜡

建立了用于聚氯乙烯(PVC)塑料中短链氯化石蜡(SCCPs)含量测定的气相色谱-负化学离子源质谱法。采用超声萃取法对PVC塑料中的SCCPs进行萃取,萃取时间为1.5 h;然后用浓硫酸法对萃取溶液进行净化处理;最后用气相色谱-质谱法在负化学电离模式、离子源温度为160 ℃、甲烷反应气流速为1.5 mL/min等条件下对样品中的SCCPs进行定性定量分析。该方法不受样品中中链氯化石蜡(MCCPs)的干扰,可对样品中的SCCPs进行准确的定量分析。分析的12批次样品均检出SCCPs,含量在0.3×10²~3.5×10⁴mg/kg范围内。依据欧盟对SCCP的限值(1%)要求,4批次样品不符合法规要求,不符合率为33.3%。可见,PVC塑料具有较高的SCCPs污染风险。     

Ionic liquid-based single drop microextraction and room-temperature gas chromatography for on-site ion mobility spectrometric analysis

The combination of ionic liquid-based headspace single drop microextraction (IL-HS-SDME) and room-temperature gas chromatography/ion mobility spectrometry (RTGC-IMS) is presented for the first time using the direct determination of trihalomethanes in waters as model analytical problem. The ionic liquid allows the transference of the analytes from the sample to the analytical system, at the same time that it provides an increase of the sensitivity and selectivity of the determination. An injection unit has been designed to permit the efficient volatilization of the analytes at room temperature and to avoid the entering of IL in the system. The direct combination allows the determination of the halocompounds in a rapid and simple way taking advance of their characteristic IMS spectra. The limits of the detection range between 0.1 ng mL⁻¹ (bromoform) and 0.9 ng mL⁻¹ (chloroform), the reproducibility of the system being better than 7.1% (RSD). The proposed coupling opens up a new horizon in IMS-based applications.