Coronaspray nebulization and ionization of liquid samples for ion mobility spectrometry

Abstract

Ion mobility spectrometry after electrospray nebulization and ionization was investigated as a method for the detection of components dissolved in liquids. While electrosprary operating conditions proved promising, greater sensitivity was achieved when the electric potential applied to the sample introduction needle was increased above breakdown potential and a corona discharge was established. Passing the liquid through the corona discharge established a "coronaspray" that efficiently nebulized and ionized the solvent and analytes. In this initial investigation of coronaspray ion mobility spectrometry (CIMS), ion current as a function of potential, temperature, and liquid flow rate was studied; several IMS spectra were obtained; and a continuous monitoring mode of operation was demonstrated. The results from this study indicated that CIMS has potential as a versatile and sensitive detection method for a variety of analytical procedures involving liquid flowing streams such as flow injection analysis, liquid chromatography, capillary zone electrophoresis, and field flow fractionation.

Feasibility of Higher-Order Differential Ion Mobility Separations Using New Asymmetric Waveforms

“…[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Single-stage ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) was investigated since the 1970s, 25-27 with a noteworthy development of ESI/IMS in 1980s. 28 In IMS, ions drift through a non-reactive buffer gas under the influence of a modest electric field. The drift velocity (v) in the field of intensity E is determined by ion mobility (K):…”

“…[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Single-stage ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) was investigated since the 1970s, [25][26][27] with a noteworthy development of ESI/IMS in 1980s. 28 In IMS, ions drift through a non-reactive buffer gas under the influence of a modest electric field. The drift velocity (v) in the field of intensity E is determined by ion mobility (K): (1) For consistency, measured mobilities are normally converted to reduced values K 0 by adjusting the buffer gas temperature (T, Kelvin) and pressure (P, Torr) to standard (STP) conditions: (2) The mobility of an ion always depends on the electric field.…”

“…The drift velocity (v) in the field of intensity E is determined by ion mobility (K): (1) For consistency, measured mobilities are normally converted to reduced values K 0 by adjusting the buffer gas temperature (T, Kelvin) and pressure (P, Torr) to standard (STP) conditions: (2) The mobility of an ion always depends on the electric field. This dependence may be expressed as an infinite series of even powers over (E/N), where N represents the gas number density: 9,29 (3) Rigorously, IMS measures K(E) at a particular E. However, typically E/N is under ~20 Td, e.g., ~5 -16 Td in MS/IMS/MS systems 1,2,4,7,15 operated at low P ~ 1 -5 Torr and a lower 1 -4 Td in IMS 28 and IMS/MS 5,6,12 with "high" P ~ 150 -760 Torr. Under those conditions, K(E) varies [30][31][32][33] by < ~1 %.…”

Capabilities and limitations of ion mobility spectrometry for field screening applications

“…Several nonradioactive ionization sources suitable for field use that have been investigated with the ion mobility spectrometer include photoionization, 25 electrospray ionization, 26 surface ionization, 27 and corona discharge ionization. 28 In general, IMS appears to offer considerable promise as a field-portable analytical instrument. Commercially available models are useful for the detection of VOCs above the ppm level.…”

Prediction of Ion Drift Times for a Proteome‐Wide Peptide Set Using Partial Least Squares Regression, Least‐Squares Support Vector Machine and Gaussian Process

“…Since then, interest in the use of ion mobility as a tool for the separation of mixtures has greatly increased, especially with the development of electrospray [3,4] and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization [5] as ion sources for IMS, applications have expanded from those limited to volatile samples to samples containing nonvolatile analytes. Furthermore, when IMS coupled with mass spectrometers, it became a powerful analytical tool which can be used for high-throughput drug screening [6] and proteomics [7 -9], glycomics [10 -12], and metabolomics [13] studies.…”