Abstract

The construction and capabilities of a new instrument combining infrared and mass spectrometry to simultaneously examine the effluent from a single capillary column gas chromatographic injection are described. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is performed in the conventional manner. However, the Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) portion of the instrument employs a new sampling method involving low-temperature trapping of the effluent from the gas chromatograph. The mass spectrometer was over two orders of magnitude more sensitive (161 fg detection limit for naphthalene) than the infrared (40 pg). The qualitative capabilities of infrared spectrometry, particularly when isomer-specific identifications are necessary, are shown to be highly complementary to the usual GC-MS method for analyzing complex mixtures.

Organic Analysis

K. Biemann
Appl. Opt. 9(6) 1282-1288 (1970)

Ultraviolet laser microplasma–gas chromatography detector: detection of species-specific fragment emission

Randy J. Locke, Jeffrey B. Morris, Brad E. Forch, and Andrzej W. Miziolek
Appl. Opt. 29(33) 4987-4992 (1990)

Quantitative analysis of essential oils of Thymus daenensis using laser-induced fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy

H. Khoshroo, H. Khadem, M. Bahreini, S. H. Tavassoli, and J. Hadian
Appl. Opt. 54(32) 9533-9539 (2015)

Recent applications of FT-IR spectroscopy to polymer systems

J. L. Koenig and M. K. Antoon
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Femtosecond pulse shaping adds a new dimension to mass spectrometry

Igor Pastirk, Xin Zhu, Vadim V. Lozovoy, and Marcos Dantus
Appl. Opt. 46(19) 4041-4045 (2007)