Premium
A novel nanoflow interface for atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry
Author(s) -
Hirabayashi Atsumu
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.936
Subject(s) - chemistry , mass spectrometry , capillary action , analytical chemistry (journal) , ion , ionization , ion trap , atmospheric pressure , electrospray ionization , ion source , coaxial , electrospray , chromatography , materials science , oceanography , organic chemistry , composite material , geology , engineering , electrical engineering
A novel spray‐ionization technique for nanoflow liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (nLC/MS) has been developed by modifying the sonic spray ionization (SSI) technique. A solution from a tapered fused‐silica capillary is sprayed by a gas flow coaxial to the capillary, and ions produced are analyzed with an ion‐trap mass spectrometer. The ion intensity is shown to have a steep threshold at a low gas velocity and to be much less dependent on the gas velocity than that of conventional SSI, in which the ion intensity is strongly dependent on the gas velocity and reaches its maximum at sonic velocity. Thus, we conclude that the concentration of charge in the solution at the tapered capillary tip with an inner diameter of 15 μm is almost at saturation so that charged droplets are produced from the solution by electrical force, rather than by sheer stress due to the gas flow. The ions are readily produced from these charged droplets. Preliminary results are compared with results obtained with a miniaturized electrospray unit. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.