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Updated: Aug 31, 2026

In Situ SIMS and IR Spectroscopy of Well-defined Surfaces Prepared by Soft Landing of Mass-selected Ions
Published on: June 16, 2014
Adsorption-desorption effects in ion trap mass spectrometry using in situ ionization
Danielle Libong1, Stéphane Pirnay, Cyrille Bruneau
1Department de Chimie des Mécanismes Réactionnels, Ecole Polytechnique, Route de Saclay, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France.
Abstract:
Quadrupole mass spectrometers were compared for the GC-MS analysis of six molecules frequently encountered in analytical toxicology: diazepam, alprazolam, triazolam, LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), trimethylsilylated LSD and trimethylsilylated buprenorphine. Experiments performed with ion trap detectors using in situ ionization led to important chromatographic peak tailing for the most polar compounds; it was assumed to result from adsorption-desorption of neutral molecules in the mass spectrometer. This study showed that the degree of peak tailing is correlated with analyte polarity, with materials coating ion trap surfaces and with analysis temperature and that this anomaly can be greatly reduced using passivated surfaces and a high temperature of analysis.
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