Photon ionization mass spectrometry (PI-MS) is a widely used technique for the online detection of trace substances in complex matrices. In this work, a new high-pressure photon ionization (HPPI) ion source based on a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) Kr lamp was developed for time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS). The detection sensitivity was improved by elevating the ion source pressure to about 700 Pa. A radio frequency (RF)-only quadrupole was employed as the ion guide system following the HPPI source to achieve high ion transmission efficiency. In-source collision induced dissociation (CID) was conducted for accurate chemical identification by varying the voltage between the ion source and the ion guide. The high humidity of the breath air can promote the detection of some compounds with higher ionization potentials (IPs) that could not be well detected by single photon ionization (SPI) at low pressure. Under 100% relative humidity (37 °C), the limits of detection down to 0.015 ppbv (parts per billion by volume) for aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons were obtained. This HPPI-TOFMS system was preliminarily applied for online investigations of the exhaled breath from both healthy nonsmoker and smoker subjects, demonstrating its analytical capacity for complicated gases analysis. Subsequently, several frequently reported VOCs in the breath of healthy volunteers, i.e., acetone, isoprene, 2-butanone, ethanol, acetic acid, and isopropanol, were successfully identified and quantified.

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Soft ionization mass spectrometry is one of the key techniques for rapid detection of trace volatile organic compounds. In this work, a novel photoionization-generated dibromomethane cation chemical ionization (PDCI) source has been developed for time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS). Using a commercial VUV lamp, a stable flux of CH2Br2(+) was generated with 1000 ppmv dibromomethane (CH2Br2) as the reagent gas, and the analytes were further ionized by reaction with CH2Br2(+) cation via charge transfer and ion association. Five typical volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) were chosen to evaluate the performance of the new ion source. The limits of detection (LOD), 0.01 ppbv for dimethyl sulfide and allyl methyl sulfide, 0.05 ppbv for carbon disulfide and methanthiol, and 0.2 ppbv for hydrogen sulfide were obtained. Compared to direct single photon ionization (SPI), the PDCI has two distinctive advantages: first, the signal intensities were greatly enhanced, for example more than 10-fold for CH3SH and CS2; second, H2S could be measured in PDCI by formation [H2S + CH2Br2](+) adduct ion and easy to recognize. Moreover, the rapid analytical capacity of this ion source was demonstrated by analysis of trace VSCs in breath gases of healthy volunteers and sewer gases.