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Speciation of arsenic oxides using laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry
T M Allen1, D Z Bezabeh, C H Smith
1Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis 95616, USA.
Abstract:
Positive and negative ion mass spectra of arsenic trioxide (As2O3) and arsenic pentaoxide (As2O5) have been obtained by single-step laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Pulsed UV radiation at 266 nm was used for the simultaneous desorption and ionization of the solid sample. High-mass cluster ions that are unique to the oxidation state of each oxide sample appear in the negative ion mass spectra. The As2O3 produces As3O5-, while the As2O5 yields As3O8-. The formation of unique negative cluster ions presents the capability for arsenic oxidation state speciation by laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry. The ability of time-of-flight mass spectrometry to examine the relative amounts of each arsenic oxide present in a series of mixtures is discussed. Application of our speciation technique to a model incinerator sample is demonstrated.