Electrothermal Vaporization Sample Introduction for Spaceflight Water Quality Monitoring via Gas Chromatography-Differential Mobility Spectrometry.

In the history of manned spaceflight, environmental monitoring has relied heavily on archival sampling. However, with the construction of the International Space Station (ISS) and the subsequent extension in mission duration up to one year, an enhanced, real-time method for environmental monitoring is necessary. The station air is currently monitored for trace volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using gas chromatography-differential mobility spectrometry (GC-DMS) via the Air Quality Monitor (AQM), while water is analyzed to measure total organic carbon and biocide concentrations using the Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) and the Colorimetric Water Quality Monitoring Kit (CWQMK), respectively. As mission scenarios extend beyond low Earth orbit, a convergence in analytical instrumentation to analyze both air and water samples is highly desirable. Since the AQM currently provides quantitative, compound-specific information for air samples and many of the targets in air are also common to water, this platform is a logical starting point for developing a multimatrix monitor. Here, we report on the interfacing of an electrothermal vaporization (ETV) sample introduction unit with a ground-based AQM for monitoring target analytes in water. The results show that each of the compounds tested from water have similar GC-DMS parameters as the compounds tested in air. Moreover, the ETV enabled AQM detection of dimethlsilanediol (DMSD), a compound whose analysis had proven challenging using other sample introduction methods. Analysis of authentic ISS water samples using the ETV-AQM showed that DMSD could be successfully quantified, while the concentrations obtained for the other compounds also agreed well with laboratory results.

Electro-thermal vaporization direct analysis in real time-mass spectrometry for water contaminant analysis during space missions.

The development of a direct analysis in real time-mass spectrometry (DART-MS) method and first prototype vaporizer for the detection of low molecular weight (∼30-100 Da) contaminants representative of those detected in water samples from the International Space Station is reported. A temperature-programmable, electro-thermal vaporizer (ETV) was designed, constructed, and evaluated as a sampling interface for DART-MS. The ETV facilitates analysis of water samples with minimum user intervention while maximizing analytical sensitivity and sample throughput. The integrated DART-ETV-MS methodology was evaluated in both positive and negative ion modes to (1) determine experimental conditions suitable for coupling DART with ETV as a sample inlet and ionization platform for time-of-flight MS, (2) to identify analyte response ions, (3) to determine the detection limit and dynamic range for target analyte measurement, and (4) to determine the reproducibility of measurements made with the method when using manual sample introduction into the vaporizer. Nitrogen was used as the DART working gas, and the target analytes chosen for the study were ethyl acetate, acetone, acetaldehyde, ethanol, ethylene glycol, dimethylsilanediol, formaldehyde, isopropanol, methanol, methylethyl ketone, methylsulfone, propylene glycol, and trimethylsilanol.

Ground-State, Mode-Dependent Vibronic Coupling in Some Simple, Cyanide-Bridged Transition-Metal Donor-Acceptor Complexes.

Patterns of the shifts in bridging cyanide-stretching frequencies have been examined in several fully saturated, &mgr;-cyano, bi- or trimetallic transition-metal donor-acceptor (D/A) complexes. An earlier (Watzky, M. A.; et al.Inorg. Chem. 1996, 35, 3463) inference that the bridging ligand nuclear and the D/A electronic coordinates are entangled is unequivocally demonstrated by the 32 cm(-)(l) lower frequency of nu(CN) for (NH(3))(5)Cr(CNRu(NH(3))(5))(4+) than for the cyanopentaamminechromium(III) parent. This contrasts to the 41 cm(-)(1) increase in nu(CN) upon ruthenation of (NH(3))(5)RhCN(2+). More complex behavior has been found for cis and trans trimetallic, donor-acceptor complexes. The symmetric combination of CN(-) stretching frequencies in trans-Cr(III)(MCL)(CNRu(II)(NH(3))(5))(2)(5+) complexes (MCL = a tetraazamacrocyclic ligand) shifts 100-140 cm(-)(1) to lower frequency, and the antisymmetric combination shifts less than about 30 cm(-)(1). This contrast in the shifts of the symmetric and the antisymmetric combinations of the CN stretches persists even in a trans complex with no center of symmetry. Two CN stretches have also been resolved in an analogous cis complex, and both shift to lower frequency by about 60 cm(-)(1). The net shift, summed over all the CN-stretching frequencies, is about the same for the bis-ruthenates of related dicyano complexes. A simple, symmetry-adapted perturbation theory treatment of the coupled vibrations is employed to deal with the opposing effects of the "kinematic" shifts (delta) of nu(CN) to higher frequency, expected in the absence of D/A coupling, and shifts ( f ) of nu(CN) to lower frequency that occur when D/A coupling is large. The Rh(III)- and Cr(III)-centered complexes correspond to different limits of this model: delta > f and delta < f, respectively. When referenced by means of this model to complexes with Rh(III) acceptors, the shifts in trimetallic complexes, summed over the symmetric and antisymmetric combinations of CN stretches, are about twice those of bimetallic complexes. Similarly referenced and summed over all bridging CN frequencies, the shifts of nu(CN) to lower energies are proportional to the oscillator strength of the electronic, donor-acceptor charge-transfer transition. The simplest interpretation of this correlation is that the donor-acceptor coupling in these systems is a function of the nuclear coordinates of the bridging ligand. This behavior of these complexes is semiquantitatively consistent with expectation for CN(-)-mediated vibronic (pseudo-Jahn-Teller) coupling of neighboring donors and acceptors, and the observed Ru(II)/CN(-) CT absorption parameters can be used in a simple, semiclassical vibronic model to predict shifts in nu(CN) that are in reasonable agreement with those observed.