edu.ucar.opensky::articles:22936 UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact 2025-12-25T15:23:39.366676 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for Imagery and Gridded Data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7f192vz Molecular characterization of alkyl nitrates in atmospheric aerosols by ion mobility mass spectrometry 2019-10-21T00:00:00Z publication https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7f192vz https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5535-2019 Zhang, Xuan author Zhang, H. author Xu, W. author WU, X. author Tyndall, Geoffrey S. author Orlando, John J. author Jayne, J. T. author Worsnop, D. R. author Canagaratna, M. R. author UCAR/NCAR - Library publisher We demonstrate the capability of the ion mobility mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) for molecular characterization of reactive and short-lived alkyl nitrates (ANs) in atmospheric aerosols. We show significantly enhanced sensitivity towards the intact molecules of ANs by ultimately 2 orders of magnitude with the addition of inorganic anions such as chloride and nitrate to the negative electrospray to promote the ion adduct formation. This approach enables the measurement of ANs that have a low tendency to form molecular ions on their own with an improved limit of detection in the range of 0.1 to 4.3 µM. Molecular identities of the ANs are well constrained by the developed correlation between the collision cross section and mass-to-charge ratio, which provides a two-dimensional separation of the -ONO2-containing compounds on the basis of their molecular size and geometry. Structural information of the nitrate molecules is further probed by the identification of characteristic fragments produced from the collision-induced dissociation of parent AN adducts. Application of the IMS-MS technique is exemplified by the identification of hydroxy nitrates in secondary organic aerosols produced from the photochemical oxidation of isoprene. UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact PDF Text theme Resource Type 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z publication Copyright author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. None eng geoscientificInformation