Multidimensional GC-Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance MS Analyses: Utilizing Gas-Phase Basicities to Characterize Multicomponent Gasoline Samples

Hydrocarbon isomers, present in crude petroleum, may yield similar gas chromatography (GC) retention times and indistinguishable mass spectral patterns. Hence, conventional GC-mass spectrometry (MS) may not provide sufficient data for identification of hydrocarbon isomers. Real-time proton affinity or gas-phase basicity "bracketing" provides an additional dimension to GC-MS analyses. Our GC-fourier transform (FT)-ion cyclotron resonance (ICR)-MS yielded an average mass measurement error of less than 3 ppm for components of a retail gasoline sample. The combined use of concurrent thermo-chemical measurements with GC-FT-ICR-MS data analysis allowed differentiation of various isomers such as C(8)H(10) species.