Three-dimensional ion mass chromatograms of oil hydrocarbon and heteroatomic compound types

The type composition of oil and oil products is usually determined by either the summation of all individuals of this compound type found from GC or GC/MS data or using appropriate generalized analytical features specific for a compound type as a whole. The specific representation of mass spectra of a complex mixture as a table of 14 homological series allows the analyst to visualize characteristic ion clusters specific for the compound types. These ion clusters form a “type mass spectrum” for each compound type. In the mass chromatograms of ions of a homologous ion series, these ion clusters form peculiar three-dimensional chromatographic peaks, whose width along the retention time axis corresponds to the isomer distribution for the homologue, molecular mass distribution (if molecular ions are considered), or structural features of the system of fused rings (for fragment ions) and “volume,” the concentration of the compound type. Three-dimensional chromatographic peaks for compound types are similar to usual peaks for individual compounds in ion mass chromatograms.