大气压气动雾化-飞行时间质谱仪研制及应用

Development and Application of an Atmospheric Pressure Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer for Pneumatic Spray Ionization Analysis

  • 摘要: 质谱技术凭借高灵敏度与快速分析能力,在药物、环境及生物分析等领域发挥着重要作用。气动雾化电离技术不依赖外加电场,与大气压质谱联用适用于氧化还原敏感体系的原位检测,并能为微液滴化学研究提供理想平台。然而,该技术的离子产率较低,对大气压接口的离子传输效率要求较高。本研究自主研制了一台配备变径射频八极杆大气压离子传输接口的反射式飞行时间质谱(TOF MS)仪,系统考察了射频频率与峰-峰值对离子传输效率的影响。结果表明,该仪器在m/z 15~650范围内具有良好的检测性能,对利血平的检出限(LOD)可达0.3 μg/L,结合气动雾化电离可实现宽质荷比范围离子的准确识别与定性分析。该仪器在微液滴表界面化学研究、电解液体系原位表征方面具有独特优势,在电化学能源材料、液相反应机理探测等领域具有广泛的应用潜力。

     

    Abstract: Mass spectrometry is widely recognized for its high sensitivity and rapid analysis capabilities, making it an indispensable tool in medical, environmental, and biological research. Pneumatic spray ionization (PSI), a unique ambient ionization technique requires no external electric field, effectively avoids redox side reactions and is therefore particularly suitable for in situ detection of redox-sensitive systems, such as battery electrolytes. Furthermore, the fine aerosol formed during the PSI process provides an ideal platform for microdroplet chemistry research. However, a major limitation of PSI is its inherently low ion yield, which places strict demands on the ion transmission efficiency of the atmospheric pressure interface (API) in mass spectrometers. To address this challenge, this work presented an orthogonal acceleration reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF MS) equipped with a variable-diameter radio-frequency octopole API, designed to overcome the low ion transmission efficiency and detection challenges under PSI conditions. The effects of radio frequency (1 MHz and 2 MHz) and peak-to-peak voltage (Vp-p) on the ion transmission efficiency of the octopole API were systematically investigated using a multi-component standard solution containing six compounds (m/z 39-606) and an electrospray ionization (ESI) source. The results showed that ion peak intensity increased firstly and then decreased with increasing Vp-p. When the radio frequency was 1 MHz, the maximum intensities for most ions occurred at a Vp-p of 40 V, except for the reserpine ion (m/z 609). In contrast, at 2 MHz, the mass discrimination effect was significantly reduced, enabling high transmission efficiency across a wider m/z range, especially in the low m/z region, such as for K+. Thus, a radio frequency of 2 MHz and a Vp-p of 100 V were chosen as optimized parameters. Under optimized conditions, the instrument demonstrated high sensitivity for the detection of reserpine, exhibiting good linearity within the range of 1-500 μg/L and achieving a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.3 μg/L. Compared with a linear ion trap, the present TOF MS showed superior resolution (up to 4 200 for m/z 195) and enabled accurate qualitative identification of low-mass ions, such as ambient ammonium ions, which are often challenging to resolve in lower-resolution instruments. Application validation confirmed that, when coupled with PSI, the system effectively detected ions across a broad mass range. The analysis of a caffeine solution revealed a series of protonated, sodiated, and multimeric cluster ions. More importantly, in the detection of vanadium (IV) electrolyte, various vanadyl-centered cluster ions were successfully captured without inducing changes in the valence state of vanadium. This confirms the method’s unique capability of avoiding redox side reactions and highlights its potential for in situ investigation of solvation structures in electrolyte systems.

     

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