Establishing Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization Efficiency Scale

Abstract

Recent evidence has shown that the atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) mechanism can be more complex than generally assumed. In order to better understand the processes in the APCI source, for the first time, an ionization efficiency scale for an APCI source has been created. The scale spans over 5 logIE (were IE is ionization efficiency) units and includes 40 compounds with a wide range of chemical and physical properties. The results of the experiments show that for most of the compounds the ionization efficiency order in the APCI source is surprisingly similar to that in the ESI source. Most of the compounds that are best ionized in the APCI source are not small volatile molecules. Large tetraalkylammonium cations are a prominent example. At the same time, low-polarity hydrocarbons pyrene and anthracene are ionized in the APCI source but not in the ESI source. These results strongly imply that in APCI several ionization mechanisms operate in parallel and a mechanism not relying on evaporation of neutral molecules from droplets has significantly higher influence than commonly assumed.