title: Humidity affects relative ion abundance in direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry of hexamethylene triperoxide diamine.
abstract: Unstable explosive hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD) is dangerous in quantity and benefits from the minimal sampling handling associated with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization for mass spectral analysis. Seasonal variation observed in HMTD mass spectra suggested a humidity dependence. Therefore, direct analysis in real time (DART) ionization mass spectra were acquired at a range of humidity values. An enclosure was designed to fit around the ion source and mass spectrometer inlet at atmospheric pressure. The enclosure was supplied with controlled amounts of humidified air from a test atmosphere generator to create programmable conditions for ambient analysis. The relative abundance and fragmentation of analyte ions were observed to change reliably with changing humidity values and, to a lesser degree, temperature. Humidity at such plasma-based ion sources should be regulated to avoid ∼90% shifts in relative ion abundance and provide stability and reproducibility of HMTD analysis.
authors.affiliation: Nova Research, Inc. , 1900 Elkin St., Suite 230, Alexandria, Virginia 22308, United States.
authors.forename: G Asher
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Newsome
authors.forename: Luke K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Ackerman
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D019086:Bridged Bicyclo Compounds, Heterocyclic / Q000032:analysis*; D002623:Chemistry Techniques, Analytical / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D006813:Humidity; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D019086:Bridged Bicyclo Compounds, Heterocyclic; C058103:hexamethylenetriperoxidediamine