Optimization of the dopant for the trace determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by liquid chromatography/dopant-assisted atmospheric-pressure photoionization/mass spectrometry

• Published in: Journal of Chromatography A Vol. 1131; no. 1; pp. 285 - 288
• Main Authors: Itoh, Nobuyasu, Aoyagi, Yoshie, Yarita, Takashi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 27.10.2006; Elsevier
• Subjects: Analytical chemistry; Atmospheric Pressure; Atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI); Chemistry; Chromatographic methods and physical methods associated with chromatography; Chromatography, Liquid - methods; Dopant; Dopant-assisted APPI (DA-APPI); Exact sciences and technology; LC/MS; Mass Spectrometry - methods; Other chromatographic methods; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - analysis; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - chemistry; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - classification; Reproducibility of Results; LC/MS; Dopant; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); Atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI); Dopant-assisted APPI (DA-APPI); Trace analysis; Chemical analysis; Hydrocarbon; Atmospheric pressure; Coupled method; HPLC chromatography; Polycyclic aromatic compound; Optimization; Reversed phase chromatography; Photoionization; Mass spectrometry; Quantitative analysis
• ISSN: 0021-9673
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2006.08.091

The composition of the dopant for the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by liquid chromatography/dopant-assisted atmospheric-pressure photoionization/mass spectrometry under reversed-phase conditions was optimized to enhance the ionization efficiency for PAHs. The most suitable dopant was a toluene/anisole mixture (99.5:0.5, v/v) and it could improve limit of detections (LODs) to 0.79–168 ng mL −1 (signal-to-noise (S/N) = 3) for 16 common PAHs. The LODs are 3.8–40 times lower than those obtained with toluene alone and are comparable to those obtained using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.