Issue 20, 2015

Broadscale resolving power performance of a high precision uniform field ion mobility-mass spectrometer

Abstract

An extensive study of two current ion mobility resolving power theories (“conditional” and “semi-empirical”) was undertaken using a recently developed drift tube ion mobility-mass spectrometer. The current study investigates the quantitative agreement between experiment and theory at reduced pressure (4 Torr) for a wide range of initial ion gate widths (100 to 500 μs), and ion mobility values (K0 from 0.50 to 3.0 cm2 V−1 s−1) representing measurements obtained in helium, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide drift gas. Results suggest that the conditional resolving power theory deviates from experimental results for low mobility ions (e.g., high mass analytes) and for initial ion gate widths beyond 200 μs. A semi-empirical resolving power theory provided close-correlation of predicted resolving powers to experimental results across the full range of mobilities and gate widths investigated. Interpreting the results from the semi-empirical theory, the performance of the current instrumentation was found to be highly linear for a wide range of analytes, with optimal resolving powers being accessible for a narrow range of drift fields between 14 and 17 V cm−1. While developed using singly-charged ion mobility data, preliminary results suggest that the semi-empirical theory has broader applicability to higher-charge state systems.

Graphical abstract: Broadscale resolving power performance of a high precision uniform field ion mobility-mass spectrometer

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 may 2015
Accepted
09 iyl 2015
First published
10 iyl 2015
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Analyst, 2015,140, 6824-6833

Broadscale resolving power performance of a high precision uniform field ion mobility-mass spectrometer

J. C. May, J. N. Dodds, R. T. Kurulugama, G. C. Stafford, J. C. Fjeldsted and J. A. McLean, Analyst, 2015, 140, 6824 DOI: 10.1039/C5AN00923E

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