Analysis of Gas Phase Halogen Compounds Using Atmospheric Pressure IonizationMass Spectrometry

• Main Authors: Krishna Foster Tracy, Krishna L. Foster, Tracy E. Caldwell, Thorsten Benter, Sarka Langer, John C. Hemminger, Barbara J. Finlayson-pitts
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.24.9888; http://www.cert.ucr.edu/~carter/epacham/foster1.pdf

INTRODUCTION Environmental chamber studies involve numerous chemical compounds with a variety of physical properties that make it difficult to identify all of them with a single analytical technique. Mass spectrometry is unique in its ability to detect most compounds, and is a valuable component for environmental chamber studies because of this characteristic. We show here that atmospheric pressure ionization-mass spectrometry (API-MS) in the negative ion mode is a highly sensitive and selective technique ideal for measuring halogen compounds such as HOCl, Cl 2 , and Br 2 both in laboratory systems and in air. This presentation will focus on the quantitative analysis of HOCl with API-MS [Foster et al., 1999]. Field studies show elevated bromine measurements correlated with surface-level O 3 depletion in the Arctic spring [Barrie et al., 1988]. In order to explain these observations, a very large