A chemical ionization mass spectrometry method for the online analysis of organic aerosols

A new technique employing chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) is described that allows the composition of organic particles to be determined on the time scale of seconds. With this Aerosol CIMS technique, particles are vaporized thermally at temperatures up to 480 degreesC, and the resulting vapor is chemically ionized and detected with a quadrupole mass spectrometer. The separation of the vaporization and ionization steps allows greater control and more flexibility for the detection of condensed phases than with other chemical ionization methods. Consequently, composition can be correlated to volatility, providing an additional dimension of information. The use of a variety of positive and negative reagent ions, such as H+(H2O)(2), H+(CH3OH)(2), NO+, O-2(+), O-2(-), F-, and SF6-, offers flexibility in the detection sensitivity and specificity. Furthermore, the degree of fragmentation of the resulting ion can be controlled, providing more straightforward identification and quantification than with other commonly used methods, such as electron impact ionization. Examples are given of the detection of aerosols consisting of organics with various functionalities, including alkanes, alkenes, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids. Applications of this technique to laboratory studies of atmospherically relevant aerosol reactions are discussed.