Field induced displacement reactions with proton bound dimers of organophosphorus compounds in a tandem differential mobility spectrometer

Abstract

Endothermic displacement reactions between proton bound dimers of organophosphorus compounds (OPCs) and isopropanol (IPA) were enabled in air at ambient pressure with tandem differential mobility spectrometry (DMS). Proton bound dimers (M₂H⁺) were mobility isolated in purified air with a first DMS stage, mixed with IPA at ≥100 ppm in a middle reactive stage at 106 to 160 Td from a symmetrical 4 MHz waveform, and mobility analyzed in a second DMS stage. Although the enthalpy for displacement of M by IPA in M₂H⁺ is unfavorable by +44 to 50 kJ mol⁻¹, formation of the heterogenous proton bound dimer, MH⁺(IPA) arises from field induced dissociation of M₂H⁺ to MH⁺ and addition of IPA. While peak dispersion for M₂H⁺ of OPCs is limited to −2.25 to −0.5 V compensation voltage, peaks for MH⁺(IPA) were located at −10.5 to −8.25 V through a combination of ion transformation and mobility-based vapor modification. This inaugural use of ion reactions in air at ambient pressure demonstrates that multi-stage sequential processing of ions can improve significantly the analytical performance in a mobility spectrometer.