TY - JOUR

T1 - Electrospray ionization ion mobility spectrometer with new tristate ion gating for improved sensitivity for compounds with lower ion mobility

AU - Thoben, C.

AU - Raddatz, C. R.

AU - Lippmann, M.

AU - Salehimoghaddam, Z.

AU - Zimmermann, S.

N1 - Funding Information: Supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) based on a decision by the German Bundestag , Grant 20666 N .

PY - 2021/10/1

Y1 - 2021/10/1

N2 - An electrospray is a dispersed nebula of charged droplets produced under the influence of a strong electric field. The charged droplets subsequently result in ions in the gas phase. Therefore, electrospray is a commonly used method for transferring liquids to the gas phase while ionizing its constituents at the same time. In this work, we investigate the performance of an electrospray ionization ion mobility spectrometer by varying the electric field strength in the desolvation region. In particular, we investigate a new tristate ion shutter with increased sensitivity for ions with higher molecular mass and lower ion mobility that are usually suppressed by classical Bradbury-Nielsen or Tyndall-Powell ion shutters when using short gating times as required for high resolving power. The electric field in the tristate ion shutter affects the optimal ratio of the electric field strengths in the drift and desolvation region. Furthermore, the solvent flow rate needs to be considered when setting the field strengths in the desolvation region. However, a higher electric field strength in the desolvation region affects the field at the emitter tip. For this reason, a smaller ratio of the drift field strength and the desolvation field strength is beneficial, especially since higher solvent flow rates require higher fields to initiate an electrospray. In this work, we use tetraoctylammonium bromide as an instrument standard and the fungicide metalaxyl, the herbicide isoproturon and the antibiotic cefuroxime as model compounds.

AB - An electrospray is a dispersed nebula of charged droplets produced under the influence of a strong electric field. The charged droplets subsequently result in ions in the gas phase. Therefore, electrospray is a commonly used method for transferring liquids to the gas phase while ionizing its constituents at the same time. In this work, we investigate the performance of an electrospray ionization ion mobility spectrometer by varying the electric field strength in the desolvation region. In particular, we investigate a new tristate ion shutter with increased sensitivity for ions with higher molecular mass and lower ion mobility that are usually suppressed by classical Bradbury-Nielsen or Tyndall-Powell ion shutters when using short gating times as required for high resolving power. The electric field in the tristate ion shutter affects the optimal ratio of the electric field strengths in the drift and desolvation region. Furthermore, the solvent flow rate needs to be considered when setting the field strengths in the desolvation region. However, a higher electric field strength in the desolvation region affects the field at the emitter tip. For this reason, a smaller ratio of the drift field strength and the desolvation field strength is beneficial, especially since higher solvent flow rates require higher fields to initiate an electrospray. In this work, we use tetraoctylammonium bromide as an instrument standard and the fungicide metalaxyl, the herbicide isoproturon and the antibiotic cefuroxime as model compounds.

KW - Electrospray ionization (ESI)

KW - Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS)

KW - Pesticides

KW - Tristate ion gating

KW - Water analysis

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107782806&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.talanta.2021.122579

DO - 10.1016/j.talanta.2021.122579

M3 - Article

C2 - 34215071

AN - SCOPUS:85107782806

VL - 233

JO - TALANTA

JF - TALANTA

SN - 0039-9140

M1 - 122579

ER -