Plasma Chromatography --A New Dimension for Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry

The Plasma Chromatograph™ is a positive and negative ion-molecule reactor with an ion drift spectrometer which operates with an atmospheric pressure gas. The PC can operate with a gas chromatograph for detection and peak characterization. A new dimension in information is foreseen. The Plasma Chromatograph may serve the GC as an ion interface to the mass spectrometer (GC-PC-MS) in which principally molecular ions are formed. In both the PC and PC-MS many organic molecule types may be observed at ultra-trace concentration levels down to 10−12 mole fraction. Dimethyl sulfoxide is used as an example to describe the positive and negative PC plasmagram signals and the characteristic PC-MS mass spectrogram. A theory of operation and quantitative estimate of the threshold signal illustrates the GC compatibility.