Time-of-flight distributions of HD molecules abstracted at a Si(1 0 0) surface

We study the dynamics of D abstraction by 0.05 eV H atoms on a Si(1 0 0) surface. Time-of-flight (TOF) distributions of the abstracted HD molecules are measured using a quasi-random chopper/cross-correlation method. The measured TOF distribution is found to be broad and fast. The distribution is decomposed into two components being related to direct abstraction (ABS) and adsorption-induced-desorption (AID), which were revealed in the kinetics studies. The best curve fits yield mean kinetic energies of 1.15 ± 0.20 eV and 0.33 ± 0.05 eV for the ABS and AID components, respectively. Dynamics and kinetics of hydrogen abstraction at Si(1 0 0) surfaces are consistently understood.     

Spherical neutron polarimetry applied to spin-echo and time-of-flight spectroscopy

The changes in direction of the neutron spin that take place on scattering by a magnetic interaction vector are highly dependent on their relative directions. In some circumstances, without zero-field polarimeter, it is impossible to distinguish between a simple depolarisation and a rotation of the polarisation vector.Motivated by the investigation of chiral magnetic fluctuations, we have implemented the third-generation zero-field polarimeter Cryopad on the neutron spin-echo spectrometer SPAN at the Helmholtz Centre Berlin (HCB). We present the method and the limitations of this novel technique that is now available on IN15 at the ILL.The huge progress accomplished with ³He neutron spin filters/flippers are going to facilitate the exploitation of polarised beams at spallation sources. Zero-field polarimeters like Cryopad are used routinely at several steady-state sources but their design would be inefficient at a pulse source. We have investigated the possibility to implement a zero-field polarimeter on a time-of-flight spectrometer. We propose a design that would lead to a better efficiency and present the finite element calculations.     

Effects of acoustic source and filtering on time-of-flight measurements

Time-of-flight (TOF) measurements are valuable in the estimation of distances, displacements and velocities of moving objects, phase differences of wave pulses, temperature of the atmosphere, and so on. The effects of sound source on time-of-flight measurements have been investigated in this paper. The sound sources considered are: electric horn, impact noise source, aerodynamic noise from a free jet, and the Hartmann whistle. The focus of the present study is to highlight the advantage of using Hartmann whistle for TOF measurements as this device is simple and attractive, without any moving parts. Time-of-flight of sound waves is calculated by cross-correlating the signals received by two microphones. Further, the effect of signal filtering on TOF measurements is demonstrated. The results indicate that the sound source has considerable effect on TOF measurements, and the accuracy can be significantly enhanced by appropriate signal conditioning. Hartmann whistle proves to be a good candidate as an acoustic source for TOF measurement.     

Herbal medicine analysis by liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry

The fact that the effects of herbal medicines (HMs) are brought about by their chemical constituents has created a critical demand for powerful analytical tools performing the chemical analysis to assure their efficacy, safety and quality. Liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC–MS) is an excellent technique to analyze multi-components in complex herbal matrices. Due to its inherent characteristics of accurate mass measurements and high resolution, time-of-flight (TOF) MS is well-suited to this field, especially for qualitative applications. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview on the potential of TOF, including the hybrid quadrupole- and ion trap-TOF (QTOF and IT-TOF), hyphenated to LC for chemical analysis in HMs or HM-treated biological samples. The peculiarities of LC–(Q/IT)TOF-MS for the analysis of HMs are discussed first, including applied stationary phase, mobile-phase selection, accurate mass measurements, fragmentation and selectivity. The final section is devoted to describing the applicability of LC–(Q/IT)TOF-MS to routine analysis of multi-components, including target and non-target (unknown) compounds, in herbal samples, emphasizing both the advantages and limitations of this approach for qualitative and quantitative purposes. The potential and future trends of fast high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (e.g. rapid resolution LC and ultra-performance LC) coupled to (Q)TOF-MS for chemical analysis of HMs are highlighted.     

Highly efficient,selective and sensitive molecular screening of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors of natural origin by solid-phase extraction-liquid chromatography/electrospray ionisation-octopole-orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight-mass spectrometry and novel thin-layer chromatography-based bioautography

Highly efficient, selective and sensitive molecular screening of natural acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors was developed and comprised optimized pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) of plant materials followed by highly selective solid-phase extraction (SPE) using Oasis HLB cartridges. Pure alkaloidal fractions were analyzed by a newly developed high-performance liquid-chromatography (HPLC) on a 3 μm Atlantis HILIC silica stationary phase combined with recently introduced electrospray ionisation (ESI) octopole–orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight (oa TOF)-mass spectrometry (MS) with high mass accuracy (about 2 ppm) and high sensitivity (absolute limit of detection (LOD) for galanthamine was about 43 fg at signal-to-noise 13:1). Moreover, a newly developed and validated TLC-bioautography permit galanthamine sensitivities at pg levels. In this way, more potent than galanthamine AChE inhibitor namely 1,2-dihydrogalanthamine in Narcissus jonquilla ‘Pipit’ extract could be found (with IC₅₀ value 0.19 μM lower of about 42% than that of galanthamine).     

太赫兹脉冲光谱法测量微米级多层油漆涂层厚度技术

在汽车工业、飞机、船舶等领域中,油漆的涂层厚度管理对产品防水、防锈功能和颜色效果有着重要影响,但是目前采用的商业化涂层测厚仪都是接触式,并且很难直接获得多层涂层中的各层厚度。利用反射式太赫兹时域光谱(THz-TDS)系统探测样品的太赫兹脉冲光谱,基于脉冲回波的飞行时间建立简易的单点漆膜厚度提取模型。并通过最小二乘法拟合油漆样品的光学厚度与几何厚度之间的线性关系计算出12种涂覆在铝板上的油漆样品的测量折射率,发现金属油漆与非金属油漆在太赫兹波段的折射率存在较大的差异,闪光银色油漆样品的测量折射率为5.15,而白色油漆样品的测量折射率仅为2.64。在单层白色油漆样品厚度分布均匀的区域内测量50个点的膜厚,以磁/涡流感应涂层测厚仪的测量数据为参考标准,得到的厚度平均值为71.7 μm,测量误差为3.5 μm。对双层油漆样品进行二维扫描,测得白色油漆和底漆的厚度分布分别是(233±13)和(130±11) μm。同样,通过黑色三层油漆样品和银色三层油漆样品的二维分布图,分析了各层的漆膜厚度及其分布的均匀性。结果表明,太赫兹脉冲光谱法实现了1～3层漆膜的厚度测量及其分布均匀性评估,该方法对金属油漆的厚度分辨力较高,并且可通过非接触探测样品的太赫兹脉冲光谱,获得多层油漆的各层厚度及厚度的二维分布信息,易于实现喷涂质量的评估。     

AZ-1518 Photoresist analysis with synchrotron radiation using high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry

With the aim of identifying molecular modifications among photoresists unexposed and previously exposed to the ultraviolet light the photon stimulated ion desorption (PSID) technique was employed in the study of the AZ-1518 photoresist. Data acquisition was performed at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Source (LNLS), during a single-bunch operation mode of the storage ring and using high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) for ion analysis. PSID mass spectra on both photoresists (unexposed and exposed) were obtained following the S K-shell photoexcitation and desorption ion yield curves have been determined for the main fragments as a function of the photon energy. The AZ-1518 photoresists presented different PSID spectra, showing characteristic fragments. Most of the analyzed ions showed larger relative yields for the exposed photoresist. Fragments related to the photochemical decomposition of the photoresist could be clearly identified. These results showed that the PSID technique is adequate to investigate structural changes in molecular level in unexposed and exposed photoresists.     

Quantification in highly scattering/absorbing layered samples using photon time-of-flight measurements and confocal optical geometry

A method for depth-resolved quantification in scattering/absorbing layered samples is described. Confocal optical geometry was used in conjunction with time gated detection for non-invasive quantification of sub-surface absorbing constituents. For analysis, the time-resolved diffuse reflectance intensities from a series of layered absorbing samples were ratioed to that of a similar, non-absorbing specimen. Using this approach, absorbance information sensitive to changing sample composition was obtained. The effect of confocal optical geometry focussing on depth-resolved quantification was characterized using different portions of the time profile. In addition, imaging performance is assessed with varying focal depth, numerical aperture and effective pinhole size. Results indicate that the effect of multiple scattering on the detected signal may be reduced by using a larger numerical aperture objective and small effective pinhole size. Also, the sample absorbance was found to be more linear over a wider concentration range when compared with a large pinhole. When time information was included, the initial rising portion of the time profile was found to enhance sample absorbance linearity when a large pinhole is used. However, little enhancement was observed when the imaging pinhole size was small. Similar effects were seen at each focal depth in the sample. This finding suggests that although including time information may be beneficial, it is not needed when confocal light collection is employed in the analysis of macroscopic scattering samples.     

Hyphenation of gas chromatography and resonance-enhanced laser mass spectrometry (REMPI-TOFMS): A multidimensional analytical technique

Analysis of environmental samples usually requires time consuming sample preparation and clean-up procedures prior to instrumental detection. Faster analysis requires an enhanced instrumental selectivity in order to reduce the necessary clean-up effort. In this context we present a novel concept for coupling gas chromartography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with high resolution UV spectoscopy to increase selectivity. We use UV-laser induced, resonance-enhanced multi-photon ionization (REMPI)as a compound specifie ion source for time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS). The REMPI ionization involves the UV absorption spectroscopy into the ionization process as an aditional analytical dimension. The heart of the GC-REMPI-TOFMS coupling is a specially designed valve, which repetitively (20 Hz) expands the chromatographic eluent as short supersonic jet gas pulses (≈ 150 μs duration) into the vacuum of the mass specrtrometer. The sample molecules are cooled down to temperatures of 10-40 K within the jet expansion. Under these conditions, UV absorption spectriscopy (i.e. REMPi spectroscopy) becomes highly compound selective, even able to distinguish isomeric compounds. The ions formed by REMPI ionization are mass analyzed in the TOFMS. Thus the GC-REMPI-TOFMS coupling presented here is actually a three-dimensional analytical instrument, providing gas chromatographic (retention time) as well as mass spectrometric (molecular mass) and UV -spectroscopic (excitation laser wavelength) selectivity. In combination with gas phase sampling and concentration techniques for semi-volatile organic air pollutants based, e.g., on silicone rubber traps the GC-LAMS technique can be a powerful tool for fast environmental target analysis, e.g. for industrial emission control purposes.     

多核钴铁羰基簇结构与催化性能研究

本文以ＣｌＣＣｏ_３（ＣＯ）_９，Ｅｔ_４Ｎ［ＦｅＣｏ_３（ＣＯ）_（１２）］，Ｍｅ_４Ｎ［Ｆｅ_６Ｃ（ＣＯ）_（１６）］诸羰基簇为研究对象，采用激光等离子体源飞行时间质谱及量化计算相结合，对上述羰基簇合物结构及稳定性进行了研究，并将所得结果用于推论ＣｌＣＣｏ_３（ＣＯ）_９及Ｅｔ_４Ｎ［ＦｅＣｏ_３（ＣＯ）_（１２）］的烯烃氢甲酰化反应活性中间体和α－Ａｌ_２Ｏ_３担载的相应簇合物的ＣＯ加氢活性物种。