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Development of a Novel Mass Spectrometric ... - Jacobs University

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Introduction<br />

review <strong>of</strong> the work done in this field will be reported. Research efforts have<br />

investigated the potential <strong>of</strong> various ionisation methods to create intact product<br />

ions representing the neutral composition <strong>of</strong> complex mixture. It follows that the<br />

choice <strong>of</strong> ionisation method plays a key role towards a rational detailed analysis <strong>of</strong><br />

crude oil samples.<br />

1.3.1 EI and CI<br />

Traditionally low-energy EI and CI ionisation were used for petroleum analysis. 44-<br />

48 EI (70 eV) produces extensive fragmentation <strong>of</strong> the ionised hydrocarbon<br />

molecules. Nevertheless characteristic fragment ions <strong>of</strong> petroleum were developed<br />

to provide valuable crude oil assay for light or medium hydrocarbons. However,<br />

this method can’t be used to identify each type <strong>of</strong> hydrocarbons as well as it is not<br />

accurate if sample contains olefins or heteroatom containing compounds. 49 The<br />

obtained molecular weight information becomes rather complicated due to<br />

fragmentation and difficulties in identifying molecular ions. Also since molecules<br />

are brought to gas phase by thermal vaporisation that defines EI and CI methods,<br />

high boiling point molecules <strong>of</strong> hydrocarbons can’t be detected thereby.<br />

1.3.2 ESI, DESI and MALDI<br />

Other s<strong>of</strong>t ionisation techniques such as ESI, APCI, APPI and MALDI have also<br />

taken part in the analysis <strong>of</strong> individual or complex mixtures <strong>of</strong> hydrocarbons. For<br />

numerous applications in mass spectrometry ESI is widely used as an ionisation<br />

method. It has been used to evaporate and ionise polar compounds <strong>of</strong> petroleum<br />

containing functional groups with nitrogen or oxygen atom. 41,50-56 The technique<br />

can successfully vaporise and ionise hydrocarbon analytes and produce<br />

pseudomolecular ions without fragmentation. The molecules in positive molecular<br />

ion formation are either protonated (basic compounds) or deprotonated (acidic<br />

compounds). With ESI FT ICR combination allows a compact mass spectral<br />

display for visual resolution <strong>of</strong> up to thousands <strong>of</strong> peaks. However polar<br />

hydrocarbons are only a small portion <strong>of</strong> petroleum (10%). ESI is ‘blind’ to other<br />

major nonpolar hydrocarbon fraction <strong>of</strong> petroleum especially saturate and aromatic<br />

11

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