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Updated: Jul 27, 2026

A Practical Guide on Coupling a Scanning Mobility Sizer and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (SMPS-ICPMS)
Published on: July 11, 2017
Use of the metastable atom bombardment (MAB) ion source for the elimination of PCDE interference in PCDD/PCDF
1Centre d'Expertise en Analyse Environnementale, Ministère de l'Environnement du Quèbec, St. Vincent-de-Paul Laval, Canada. serge.moore@menv.gouv.qc.ca
Abstract:
The analysis of polychlorinated dioxins and furans (PCDDs/PCDFs) can produce erroneous results when polychloro diphenyl ethers (PCDEs) are present because they fragment and rearrange under electron ionization to give isobaric ions with PCDFs. Mass information must be generated to indicate the occurrence of possible PCDEs but uncertainty still exists if a PCDE congener has the same retention time as a PCDF congener. The metastable atom bombardment (MAB) ion source does not transfer enough energy to PCDE upon ionization to fragment the molecular ion, thus eliminating the need for PCDE tracking in PCDF analysis. Experiments were conducted with different gases, representing different ionization energies, to demonstrate that PCDE interference can be eliminated from PCDF analysis.
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