Simultaneous analysis of butene isomer mixtures using process mass spectrometry

The feasibility of simultaneous analysis of mixtures containing two to four butene isomers and up to six total components using process mass spectrometry is assessed. As for typical (nonisomeric) applications of process mass spectrometry, simultaneous analysis is based on the assumption that the electron ionization mass spectra of mixtures are linear combinations of the spectra of the individual constituents. Limits of detection for binary isomer mixtures are on the order of 0.1% to 10%, limited by the ability to distinguish small differences between similar spectra. As spectral and mixture complexity increase, both accuracy and precision decrease. Not surprisingly the similarity of the spectra of stereoisomers cis- and trans-2-butene is greater than that of the other (nonstereoisomeric) isomer pairs, and mixtures containing both cis- and trans-2-butene are the most difficult to quantitate. However, even for mixtures of all four butenes, accuracy (root-mean-square ERROR = 2.43%), precision (average coefficient of VARIATION = 6.72%), and linearity (correlation coefficient of a plot of measured versus actual concentration r² = 0.985 ± 0.002) are reasonably good.