Chemical standards in ion mobility spectrometry

Positive ion mobility spectra for three compounds (2,4-dimethylpyridine (2,4-DMP, commonly called 2,4-lutidine), dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) and 2,6-di-t-butyl pyridine (2,6-DtBP)) have been studied in air at ambient pressure over the temperature range 37-250 °C with (H₂O)_nH⁺ as the reactant ion. All three compounds yield a protonated molecule but only 2,4-dimethylpyridine and dimethyl methylphosphonate produced proton-bound dimers. The reduced mobilities (K₀) of protonated molecules for 2,4-dimethylpyridine and DMMP increase significantly with increasing temperature over the whole temperature range indicating changes in ion composition or interactions; however, K₀ for the protonated molecule of 2,6-di-t-butyl pyridine was almost invariant with temperature. The K₀ values for the proton-bound dimers of 2,4-dimethylpyridine and DMMP also showed little dependence on temperature, but could be obtained only over an experimentally smaller and lower temperature range and at elevated concentrations. Chemical standards will be helpful as mobility spectra from laboratories worldwide are compared with increased precision and 2,6-di-t-butyl pyridine may be a suitable compound for use in standardizing reduced mobilities. The effect of thermal expansion of the drift tube length on the calculation of reduced mobilities is emphasized.