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Browsing by Author "Krechmer, Jordan E."

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Correcting bias in log-linear instrument calibrations in the context of chemical ionization mass spectrometry
    Bi, Chenyang; Krechmer, Jordan E.; Canagaratna, Manjula R.; Isaacman-VanWertz, Gabriel (2021-10-11)
    Quantitative calibration of analytes using chemical ionization mass spectrometers (CIMSs) has been hindered by the lack of commercially available standards of atmospheric oxidation products. To accurately calibrate analytes without standards, techniques have been recently developed to log-linearly correlate analyte sensitivity with instrument operating conditions. However, there is an inherent bias when applying log-linear calibration relationships that is typically ignored. In this study, we examine the bias in a log-linear-based calibration curve based on prior mathematical work. We quantify the potential bias within the context of a CIMS-relevant relationship between analyte sensitivity and instrument voltage differentials. Uncertainty in three parameters has the potential to contribute to the bias, specifically the inherent extent to which the nominal relationship can capture true sensitivity, the slope of the relationship, and the voltage differential below which maximum sensitivity is achieved. Using a prior published case study, we estimate an average bias of 30 %, with 1 order of magnitude for less sensitive compounds in some circumstances. A parameter-explicit solution is proposed in this work for completely removing the inherent bias generated in the log-linear calibration relationships. A simplified correction method is also suggested for cases where a comprehensive bias correction is not possible due to unknown uncertainties of calibration parameters, which is shown to eliminate the bias on average but not for each individual compound.
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    Coupling a gas chromatograph simultaneously to a flame ionization detector and chemical ionization mass spectrometer for isomer-resolved measurements of particle-phase organic compounds
    Bi, Chenyang; Krechmer, Jordan E.; Frazier, Graham O.; Xu, Wen; Lambe, Andrew T.; Claflin, Megan S.; Lerner, Brian M.; Jayne, John T.; Worsnop, Douglas R.; Canagaratna, Manjula R.; Isaacman-VanWertz, Gabriel (2021-05-27)
    Atmospheric oxidation products of volatile organic compounds consist of thousands of unique chemicals that have distinctly different physical and chemical properties depending on their detailed structures and functional groups. Measurement techniques that can achieve molecular characterizations with details down to functional groups (i.e., isomer-resolved resolution) are consequently necessary to provide understandings of differences of fate and transport within isomers produced in the oxidation process. We demonstrate a new instrument coupling the thermal desorption aerosol gas chromatograph (TAG), which enables the separation of isomers, with the high-resolution time-of-flight chemical ionization mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-CIMS), which has the capability of classifying unknown compounds by their molecular formulas, and the flame ionization detector (FID), which provides a near-universal response to organic compounds. The TAG-CIMS/FID is used to provide isomer-resolved measurements of samples from liquid standard injections and particle-phase organics generated in oxidation flow reactors. By coupling a TAG to a CIMS, the CIMS is enhanced with an additional dimension of information (resolution of individual molecules) at the cost of time resolution (i.e., one sample per hour instead of per minute). We found that isomers are prevalent in sample matrix with an average number of three to five isomers per formula depending on the precursors in the oxidation experiments. Additionally, a multi-reagent ionization mode is investigated in which both zero air and iodide are introduced as reagent ions, to examine the feasibility of extending the use of an individual CIMS to a broader range of analytes with still selective reagent ions. While this approach reduces iodide-adduct ions by a factor of 2, [M - H](-) and [M + O-2](-) ions produced from lower-polarity compounds increase by a factor of 5 to 10, improving their detection by CIMS. The method expands the range of detected chemical species by using two chemical ionization reagents simultaneously, which is enabled by the pre-separation of analyte molecules before ionization.
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    Quantification of isomer-resolved iodide chemical ionization mass spectrometry sensitivity and uncertainty using a voltage-scanning approach
    Bi, Chenyang; Krechmer, Jordan E.; Frazier, Graham O.; Xu, Wen; Lambe, Andrew T.; Claflin, Megan S.; Lerner, Brian M.; Jayne, John T.; Worsnop, Douglas R.; Canagaratna, Manjula R.; Isaacman-VanWertz, Gabriel (2021-10-25)
    Chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) using iodide as a reagent ion has been widely used to classify organic compounds in the atmosphere by their elemental formula. Unfortunately, calibration of these instruments is challenging due to a lack of commercially available standards for many compounds, which has led to the development of methods for estimating CIMS sensitivity. By coupling a thermal desorption aerosol gas chromatograph (TAG) simultaneously to a flame ionization detector (FID) and an iodide CIMS, we use the individual particle-phase analytes, quantified by the FID, to examine the sensitivity of the CIMS and its variability between isomers of the same elemental formula. Iodide CIMS sensitivities of isomers within a formula are found to generally vary by 1 order of magnitude with a maximum deviation of 2 orders of magnitude. Furthermore, we compare directly measured sensitivity to a method of estimating sensitivity based on declustering voltage (i.e., "voltage scanning"). This approach is found to carry high uncertainties for individual analytes (0.5 to 1 order of magnitude) but represents a central tendency that can be used to estimate the sum of analytes with reasonable error (similar to 30% differences between predicted and measured moles). Finally, gas chromatography (GC) retention time, which is associated with vapor pressure and chemical functionality of an analyte, is found to qualitatively correlate with iodide CIMS sensitivity, but the relationship is not close enough to be quantitatively useful and could be explored further in the future as a potential calibration approach.