Development of Dipolar Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometer for Real-time Monitoring of Volatile Organic Compounds in Ambient Air

Publication date: April 2018 Source:Chinese Journal of Analytical Chemistry, Volume 46, Issue 4 Author(s): Qiang-Ling ZHANG, Xue ZOU, Qu LIANG, Ya-Ting ZHANG, Ming-Jian YI, Hong-Mei WANG, Chao-Qun HUANG, Cheng-Yin SHEN, Yan-Nan CHU Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in ambient air can participate in photochemical reactions, which lead to the generation of secondary pollutants such as ozone and aerosol. So real-time and accurate monitoring of atmospheric VOCs plays an important role in the study of the causes of air pollution. On the basis of proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) research, a novel dipolar proton transfer reaction mass spectrometer (DP-PTR-MS) for real-time and on-line monitoring of atmospheric VOCs was developed. Compared with conventional PTR-MS with one kind of reagent ion H3O+, DP-PTR-MS had three kinds of reagent ions H3O+, OH−, (CH3)2COH+, which could be switched according to the actual detection need. So DP-PTR-MS can improve the qualitative ability and expand the detection range effectively. The reagent ion H3O+ can be used for detecting VOCs whose proton affinities are greater than that of H2O. The reagent ion OH− can be used to identify VOCs cooperating with the reagent ion H3O+, and can also be used for detecting some inorganic substances such as CO2. The reagent ion (CH3)2COH+ can be used for accurately detecting NH3 under interference elimination circumstances. The limit of detection (LOD) and sensitivity of DP-PTR-MS we...
Source: Chinese Journal of Analytical Chemistry - Category: Chemistry Source Type: research