Laser desorption/ionization techniques in the characterization of high molecular weight oil fractions. Part 1: asphaltenes

The molecular weight distribution of the asphaltene fractions of two types of crude oils from two different Italian fields (samples 1 and 2) was investigated. The analytical tools used to perform these analyses were matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) and laser desorption ionization (LDI) mass spectrometry. After observing that the use of the matrix (as well as the addition of Ag+) did not improve the quality of the data compared to that obtained in LDI conditions, all further measurements were performed with the latter technique. Operating under usual conditions of laser power and delay time, a very low resolution was observed, showing only macroscopic differences between the two samples in the molecular weight distribution of the different components. An accurate study on the possible reasons of this undesirable behavior indicates that it can originate from space charge phenomena occurring either in the ion source region or during the flight. A valid parameterization of the delay time and the laser power allowed higher quality spectra to be obtained. Surface-enhanced laser desorption ionization (SELDI) measurements were also performed using normal phase (silica) as the sample holder surface. Under these conditions, better results are obtained, proving that the sample-surface interaction is important to achieve, by means of laser irradiation, a homogeneous set of product ions. Both asphaltene samples were fractionated in five subfractions by gel-permeation chromatography (GPC) to obtain a better separation of the molecular weight distributions; the related spectra confirmed these findings. By using different approaches, relevant and reproducible differences between the asphaltene fractions of the two oil samples were observed.