Direct detection of monoterpenes in evacuated air atmospheres by glow discharge plasma source for mass spectrometry

Some compounds, including the monoterpenes, are difficult to be analyzed by chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CI-MS) mass spectrometry because of having distinct chemical features of unsaturated bonds in relatively large molecule, which is responsible for occurring fragmentation of molecular ions. A direct detection of monoterpenes, including monocyclic, bicyclic and oxygenated (acyclic), was carried out using a soft plasma ionization (SPI) source combined with a q-mass spectrometer (q-MS). Detectable signals for monoterpenes were examined in an ambient air discharge plasma when varying the discharge parameters, such as discharge pressure (0.4–3.0 kPa) and sample/carrier pressure ratio (R = 5–100%). Furthermore, to consider the ionization reactions in detail, nitrogen gas was also used as the discharge gas (carrier gas). Monoterpenes, including cross-linked bicyclic (α-pinene and β-pinene) and oxygenated (linalool, geraniol, nerol and eucalyptol), in which their simple spectrum patterns can be obtained with little or no fragmentation at an ambient air pressure of several kPa, has successfully conducted by the pulsed dc SPI-MS. To our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating that the spectrum pattern of monoterpenes could be directly detected without any complicated fragmentation of analyte ions in the SPI source.