Kuangnan Qian

Ambient analysis of saturated hydrocarbons using discharge-induced oxidation in desorption electrospray ionization

Saturated nonfunctionalized hydrocarbons can be oxidized in situ by initiating an electrical discharge during desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) to generate the corresponding alchohols and ketones. This form of reactive DESI experiment can be utilized as an in situ derivatization method for rapid and direct analysis of alkanes at atmospheric pressure without sample preparation. Betaine aldehyde was incorporated into the DESI spray solution to improve the sensitivity of detecting the long-chain alcohol oxidation products. The limit of detection for alkanes (C15H32 to C30H62) from pure samples is ∼20 ng. Multiple oxidations and dehydrogenations occurred during the DESI discharge, but no hydrocarbon fragmentation was observed, even for highly branched squalane. Using exact mass measurements, the technique was successfully implemented for analysis of petroleum distillates containing saturated hydrocarbons.

Observation of vanadyl porphyrins and sulfur‐containing vanadyl porphyrins in a petroleum asphaltene by atmospheric pressure photonionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

Vanadyl (VO) porphyrins and sulfur-containing vanadyl (VOS) porphyrins of a wide carbon number range (C(26) to C(52)) and Z-number range (-28 to -54) were detected and identified in a petroleum asphaltene by atmospheric pressure photonionization (APPI) and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICR-MS). APPI provides soft ionization of asphaltene molecules (including VO and VOS porphyrins), generating primarily molecular ions (M(+.)). The ultra-high mass resolving power (m/Delta m(FWHM) approximately 500 K) of FTICR-MS enabled resolution and positive identification of elemental formulae for the entire family of VO and VOS porphyrins in a complicated asphaltene matrix. Deocophylerythro-etioporphyrin (DPEP) is found to be the most prevalent structure, followed by etioporphyrins (etio)- and rhodo (benzo)-DPEP. The characteristic Z-distribution of VO porphyrins suggests benzene and naphthene increment in the growth of porphyrin ring structures. Bimodal carbon number distributions of VO porphyrins suggest possible different origins of low and high molecular weight species. To our knowledge, the observation of VOS porphyrins in a petroleum product has not previously been reported. The work is also the first direct identification of the entire vanadyl porphyrin family by ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry without chromatographic separation or demetallation.

Rapid hydrocarbon analysis using a miniature rectilinear ion trap mass spectrometer

A miniature ion trap mass analyzer was applied to the analysis of traces of hydrocarbons and simple heteroatomics in the vapor phase and in aqueous solution. Vapors of acetone, acetic acid, acetonitrile, benzene, butanethiol, carbon disulfide, hexane, dichloromethane, naphthalene, toluene and xylenes were detected and quantified using solid sorbent trapping and, in some cases, by passage through a membrane interface. Aqueous solutions of benzene, toluene, xylenes, hexane and a petroleum naphtha distillate were examined using the membrane interface. Sampling, detection and identification of all compounds was completed in times of less than one minute. The gas-phase samples of toluene and benzene were detected at 200 ppt (limit of detection, LOD) for toluene and 600 ppt for benzene. Identification of benzene and xylene in aqueous solutions was readily achieved with LODs of 200 and 400 ppb, respectively. Quantification over a linear dynamic range of two orders of magnitude for the aqueous samples and three orders of magnitude for the vapor-phase samples was demonstrated.

Laser-Induced Acoustic Desorption/Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Laser-induced acoustic desorption (LIAD) was successfully coupled to a conventional atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source in a commercial linear quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer (LQIT). Model compounds representing a wide variety of different types, including basic nitrogen and oxygen compounds, aromatic and aliphatic compounds, as well as unsaturated and saturated hydrocarbons, were tested separately and as a mixture. These model compounds were successfully evaporated into the gas phase by using LIAD and then ionized by using APCI with different reagents. From the four APCI reagent systems tested, neat carbon disulfide provided the best results. The mixture of methanol and water produced primarily protonated molecules, as expected. However, only the most basic compounds yielded ions under these conditions. In sharp contrast, using APCI with either neat benzene or neat carbon disulfide as the reagent resulted in the ionization of all the analytes studied to predominantly yield stable molecular ions. Benzene yielded a larger fraction of protonated molecules than carbon disulfide, which is a disadvantage. A similar but minor amount of fragmentation was observed for these two reagents. When the experiment was performed without a liquid reagent (nitrogen gas was the reagent), more fragmentation was observed. Analysis of a known mixture as well as a petroleum cut was also carried out. In summary, the new experiment presented here allows the evaporation of thermally labile compounds, both polar and nonpolar, without dissociation or aggregation, and their ionization to predominantly form stable molecular ions.