By Anonymous on Friday, December 5, 2003 - 11:32 pm:
Hi,
I would like to ask everyone if it is possible to analyze halothane and other volatile anaesthetic gases using LCMS. We do not have a headspace sampler. Our lab only have HPLC and an LCMS system. Our one and only GC system is a very old model equipped with an FID detector.
So, I was wondering if it is possible to do halothane using LCMS with an HPLC system with an autosampler equipped with a cooling system (Agilent 1100 series).
Thanks!
By MG on Sunday, December 7, 2003 - 02:47 pm:
What kind of ion source(s) do you have? The commonly used ionization techniques (ESI and APCI) rely on protonation or deprotonation. Halothane doesn't have functional groups favoring this.
Manufacturers of photoionization sources claim that you can ionize nonpolar compounds such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons. Perhaps it would work for your analyte. But I don't have a photoionization source and can't say any more about it.
In some cases, it is possible to form radical anions in APCI(-). That might be your best hope if you don't have a photoion source. See:
Anal. Chem. 2000, 72, 3007-3013
If you only have an ESI source, it probably won't work.
By Anonymous on Monday, December 8, 2003 - 03:41 pm:
We do have an APCI ion source in our lab. So maybe I will try your suggestion. Thanks alot MG.
By MG on Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - 06:59 am:
No problem. I'd be interested to hear whether it works or not.