title: Droplet spray ionization from a glass microscope slide: real-time monitoring of ethylene polymerization.
abstract: Ambient ionization mass spectrometry is achieved in a simple manner by loading a sample solution onto a corner of a microscope cover glass positioned in front of the inlet to a mass spectrometer and applying a high voltage to the sample. The resulting stream of charged droplets is stable, has no contamination from the substrate platform, and can be used repeatedly. The utility of droplet spray for in situ analysis and real-time monitoring of chemical reactions was demonstrated by the bis(cyclopentadienyl)zirconium dichloride (zirconocene dichloride)/methylaluminoxane, Cp2ZrCl2/MAO, homogeneously catalyzed polymerization of ethylene in various solutions. Reaction times ranged from seconds to minutes, and catalytically active species and polymeric products of ethylene were acquired and identified by tandem mass spectrometry.
authors.affiliation: †School of Marine Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology at Weihai, Weihai, Shandong 264209, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: ‡State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150040, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: §Division of Chemical Metrology and Analytical Science, National Institute of Metrology, Beijing, 100013, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: ∥Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States.
authors.forename: Maria T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Dulay
authors.affiliation: ∥Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Ingram
authors.affiliation: †School of Marine Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology at Weihai, Weihai, Shandong 264209, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: ‡State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150040, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: ∥Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States.
authors.forename: Richard N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Zare