Atmospheric pressure ionization and gas phase ion mobility studies of isomeric dihalogenated benzenes using different ionization techniques

Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) featuring different ionization techniques was used to analyze isomeric ortho-, meta- and para-dihalogenated benzenes in order to assess how structural features affect ion formation and drift behavior. The structure of the product ions formed was investigated by atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) mass spectrometry (MS) and IMS-MS coupling. Photoionization provided [M](+) ions for chlorinated and fluorinated compounds while bromine was cleaved from isomers of dibromobenzene and bromofluorobenzene. This ionization technique does not permit the different isomers to be distinguished. Comparable ions and additional clustered ions were obtained using Ni-63 ionization. Depending on the chemical constitution, different clustered ions were observed in ion mobility spectra for the separate isomers of dichlorobenzene and dibromobenzene. Corona discharge ionization permits the most sensitive detection of dihalogenated compounds. Only clustered product ions were obtained. Corona discharge ionization enables the classification of different structural isomers of dichlorobenzene, dibromobenzene and bromofluorobenzene. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.