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A mini‐electrodialysis system for desalting small volume saline samples for Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry
Author(s) -
Chen Hongmei,
Stubbins Aron,
Hatcher Patrick G.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography: methods
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.898
H-Index - 72
ISSN - 1541-5856
DOI - 10.4319/lom.2011.9.582
Subject(s) - fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance , electrodialysis , chemistry , electrospray ionization , chromatography , mass spectrometry , analytical chemistry (journal) , electrospray , seawater , extraction (chemistry) , solid phase extraction , aqueous solution , membrane , oceanography , geology , biochemistry
An affordable, commercially available mini‐electrodialysis (mini‐ED) system has been evaluated for the efficient desalting of small volume samples of seawater before analysis by electrospray Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI FT‐ICR MS). Mini‐ED FT‐ICR mass spectra were compared with spectra for samples that were treated by C 18 solid phase extraction, a commonly used method for rapid sample preparation for this type of analysis. In this comparison, it is clear that mini‐ED provides more representative molecular information, compared with C 18 isolation, and recovers the overwhelming majority of peaks from salt‐free samples, indicating that it adequately represents the DOM that can be ionized and analyzed by ESI FT‐ICR MS. The ED system produces a significant carbon blank. However, the substances contributing to this blank are not detectable by ESI FT‐ICR MS. Based on these findings mini‐ED is recommended as a promising method for the desalting of aqueous environmental samples before analysis by ESI FT‐ICR MS.