Direct detection of benzene, toluene, and ethylbenzene at trace levels in ambient air by atmospheric pressure chemical ionization using a handheld mass spectrometer |
| |
Authors: | Guangming Huang Liang Gao Jason Duncan Jason D. Harper Nathaniel L. Sanders Zheng Ouyang R. Graham Cooks |
| |
Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemistry and Center for Analytical Instrumentation Development, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA 2. Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, 206 South Intramural Drive, West Lafayette, IN, USA
|
| |
Abstract: | The capabilities of a portable mass spectrometer for real-time monitoring of trace levels of benzene, toluene, and ethylbenzene in air are illustrated. An atmospheric pressure interface was built to implement atmospheric pressure chemical ionization for direct analysis of gas-phase samples on a previously described miniature mass spectrometer (Gao et al. Anal. Chem. 2006, 78, 5994–6002). Linear dynamic ranges, limits of detection and other analytical figures of merit were evaluated: for benzene, a limit of detection of 0.2 parts-per-billion was achieved for air samples without any sample preconcentration. The corresponding limits of detection for toluene and ethylbenzene were 0.5 parts-per-billion and 0.7 parts-per-billion, respectively. These detection limits are well below the compounds’ permissible exposure levels, even in the presence of added complex mixtures of organics at levels exceeding the parts-per-million level. The linear dynamic ranges of benzene, toluene, and ethylbenzene are limited to approximately two orders of magnitude by saturation of the detection electronics. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|