Chemical Analysis of Complex Organic Mixtures Using Reactive Nanospray Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Reactive nanospray desorption electrospray ionization (nano-DESI) combined with high-resolution mass spectrometry was utilized for the analysis of secondary organic aerosol produced through ozonolysis of limonene (LSOA). Previous studies have shown that LSOA constituents are multifunctional compounds containing at least one aldehyde or ketone groups. In this study, we used the selectivity of the Girard’s reagent T (GT) toward carbonyl compounds to examine the utility of reactive nano-DESI for the analysis of complex organic mixtures. In these experiments, 1–100 μM GT solutions were used as the working solvents for reactive nano-DESI analysis. Abundant products from the single addition of GT to LSOA constituents were observed at GT concentrations in excess of 10 μM. We found that LSOA dimeric and trimeric compounds react with GT through a simple addition reaction resulting in formation of the carbinolamine derivative. In contrast, reactions of GT with monomeric species result in the formation of both the c...