Resonant laser ablation as a selective metal ion source for gas-phase ion molecule reactions

Resonant laser ablation (RLA) is used as a source to selectively generate multiple metal ion species from the same sample. The capability of rapidly changing metal ions for gas-phase ion chemistry studies is a significant advantage in ion-molecule chemistry. The simple experimental arrangement uses relatively modest laser pulse energies (≤ 25 µJ/pulse) from a tunable dye laser to desorb and selectively ionize different metal atoms from a multicomponent sample. In turn, this allows the chemistry of several components to be investigated without breaking vacuum or altering the experimental geometry. This work demonstrates the use of RLA as a selective source of several reagent metal ions for gas-phase ion chemistry investigations. In particular, the reactivity of acetone with Cr(+), Fe(+), Ni(+), and Cu(+) was examined for metal ions selectively created by RLA from a standard steel sample.