Soft ionization based on conditioned glow discharge for quantitative analysis

Abstract

One aspect of the disclosure provides a method of mass spectrometric analysis that includes producing either glow discharge within a noble gas between 3-100 mBar pressure, sampling and conditioning glow discharge products within a gas flow through a conductive channel (55), removing charged particles while transferring excited Ridberg atoms, and mixing conditioned discharge products with analyte flow within an enclosed chamber at elevated temperatures above 150 DEG Celsius for producing a Penning reaction between analyte molecules and Ridberg atoms. The method further includes sampling, by a gas flow, said analyte ions for mass spectrometric analysis, and at least one of the following steps: (i) removing charge within said conditioning channel (55); (ii) coaxially mixing of analyte flow with the flow of conditioned plasma; and (iii) cooling of the mixed flow within a sonic or supersonic jet for reducing the region of Penning ionization to cold jet.

Description

technical field [0001] The present disclosure relates to mass spectrometry. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to mass spectrometry utilizing a soft and quantitative ionization source based on regulated glow discharge ionization. Background technique [0002] The development of soft ionization methods such as electrospray (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption / ionization (MALDI) has extended the domain of mass spectrometry to a broad class of labile compounds—such as peptides, nucleotides, proteins, and lipids— And has given rise to the development of a wide range of biological and medical applications. These methods are known to be limited to compounds that readily generate ions in liquids (such as ionic salts), and to readily generate protonated ions MH + and deprotonated ion (M-H) - polar compounds. With the introduction of atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) methods, the range of softly io...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

One disadvantage, however, is that these soft ionization methods are not fully quantitative because the properties of the compounds being analyzed define and alter ionization efficiency and gas phase stability against reactions of competing ion molecules

However, this regulation appears to be strongly dependent on trace amounts of vapor, severely reducing ionization efficiency, so the choice remains the same—either quantitative or soft

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