title: Coupling of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with quadrupole mass spectrometry: application to the identification of atmospheric volatile organic compounds.
abstract: Observation data of atmospheric volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are highly needed in air quality assessment, photochemical mechanism study, and emission control policy-making, while it has been a challenge to accurately and comprehensively measure them. Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) is one of the advanced techniques in analysis of complex mixtures, providing a good choice for measurement of VOCs. However, the requirement for a fast detector limits the application of quadrupole mass spectrometry (qMS) in GC×GC analysis. This paper presents a method of a common qMS detector coupled with GC×GC to the identification of atmospheric VOCs. About 125 VOCs including alkanes, alkenes, aromatics, oxygenated hydrocarbons, and halocarbons were identified in the measurement of standard gas mixtures and/or urban air samples from Beijing. The results were applied to the analysis of GC×GC-FID by one to one correspondence of peaks of the equivalent compounds between the GC×GC-FID and GC×GC-qMS chromatograms, and the retention times of the identified components in GC×GC-FID in turn undertake the qualitative analysis without the further help of MS. The wrap-around phenomenon which may confuse the match of peaks was discussed in detail. The cooperation of GC×GC-FID and GC×GC-qMS which assists the identification makes the GC×GC exploration more affordable and yet practical on both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The method and the identified results can be expanded to analyze other volatiles.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Composition, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Composition, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China. Electronic address: xuxb@cams.cma.gov.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaobin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Composition, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Liyuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Composition, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Hongbing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Composition, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Composition, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Kangping
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Centre for Atmosphere Watch & Services, Meteorological Observation Center of CMA, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Weili
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Composition, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Zhaoyang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Physics, University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX 77006, USA.
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Palasota
mesh_terms: D000388:Air / Q000032:analysis; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds
keywords: Atmosphere; Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC); Quadrupole mass spectrometry (qMS); Qualitative analysis; Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)