title: Molecular characterization of organic aerosols using nanospray-desorption/electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry.
abstract: Nanospray desorption electrospray ionization (nano-DESI) combined with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HR-MS) is a promising approach for the detailed, molecular-level chemical characterization of atmospheric organic aerosols (OA) collected in laboratory and field experiments. The nano-DESI technique possesses distinct advantages of technical simplicity, enhanced sensitivity, and signal stability. In nano-DESI, analyte is desorbed into a solvent bridge formed between two capillaries and the analysis surface, which enables fast and efficient characterization of OA collected on substrates without sample preparation. Stable signals achieved using nano-DESI make it possible to obtain high-quality HR-MS data both for laboratory-generated and field-collected OA using only a small amount of material (<10 ng). Furthermore, nano-DESI enables the efficient detection of chemically labile compounds in OA, which is important for understanding chemical aging phenomena.
authors.affiliation: Chemical and Materials Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, MSIN K8-88, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Roach
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Laskin
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Laskin
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000737:chemistry*; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry*; D053138:Cyclohexenes / Q000737:chemistry; D000077222:Limonene; D036103:Nanotechnology; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods*; D013729:Terpenes / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D053138:Cyclohexenes; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D013729:Terpenes; D000077222:Limonene