RESUMEN
Atomic metal anions (AMAs) Fe- , Cs- , Cu- and Ag- were generated in the gas phase by collisionally decomposing the corresponding metal-oxalate anion. Mass selected AMAs were allowed to react with halogenated and nitrated molecules (C6H5Cl, C6H4Cl2, C6H3Cl3, C6H5I, C6H5Br and C6H5NO2) in the collision hexapole of a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer. Observed reactions include the predominant formation of X- (X = Cl, Br and I), as well as FeCl- , FeCl2- and FeCl3- when Fe- reacted with the mono, di and tri-chlorobenzenes; reactions between 1,4-dichlorobenzene and Cs- produced Cl- , CsCl- and CsCl2- ; reactions involving iodobenzene also produced, CsI- , CsI2- and AgI- . The results suggest that the reaction to form X- (X = Cl, Br, I and NO2) may be a promising route to improving the detection efficiency by mass spectrometry for such analytes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.