2019/07/21 by Caiming Tang, Tang, Caiming, Jianhua Tan +5
Chemistry · Environmental Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Analytical chemistry methods development #Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det) #Mass Spectrometry Techniques and Applications #Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact #physics.chem-ph #physics.ins-det
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1907.08904
45 pages, 6 figures
arxiv created 2019/07/21 · openalex publication_date 2019/07/21 · arxiv updated 2019/07/23 · openalex created_date 2019/07/30 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
H-abstraction reactions occurring on electron ionization mass spectrometry (EI-MS) are a long-standing and crucial topic in MS research. Yet some critical relevant mechanisms are controversial and ambiguous, and information about the EI-induced H-abstraction reactions of halogenated organic compounds (HOCs) is completely in the dark. This study provides a systematic investigation of H-abstraction reactions of HOCs taking place on EI source using 13C6-hexachlorobenzene (13C6-HCB) and 13C6-hexabromobenzene (13C6-HBB) as exemplary compounds by gas chromatography high resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS). The H-abstraction efficiencies were evaluated with the MS signal intensity ratios of ions with H-abstraction relative to the corresponding original ions (without H-abstraction). Ion source temperatures, EI energies and numbers of heavy isotope atoms (37Cl or 81Br) of isotopologues were investigated in terms of their effects on the H-abstraction efficiencies. The H-abstraction efficiencies of individual isotopologues generally decreased from the first to the last isotopologues of respective ions, and those of individual ions were different from each other, with the highest values of 0.017 and 0.444 for 13C6-HCB and 13C6-HBB, respectively. The overall H-abstraction efficiencies involving all measured ions of 13C6-HCB and 13C6-HBB were 0.004 and 0.128, respectively. EI energies and emission currents could impact the H-abstraction efficiencies. The H-abstraction reactions were inferred to belong to ion-molecule reactions. Some strategies were proposed for eliminating or alleviating the interference triggered by the H-abstraction reactions on EI-MS in identification of halogenated organic pollutants (HOPs). Our findings provide a better understanding for the EI-induced H-abstraction reactions of HOCs, and may benefit identification of HOPs in environmental analysis, especially for novel HOPs.