Studies in mass spectrometry with the ion trap detector

Several classes of environmentally significant compounds were introduced into an ion trap detector (ITD) by capillary column gas chromatography, and the performance of the device as a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) system was studied. The experiments conducted included studies of the precision of selected ion monitoring (SIM) measurements, the precision of relative ion abundance measurements in full mass range scans, the sensitivity and instrument detection limits in SIM and full mass range data acquisition, and the linear range of concentration calibration. It was observed that resolution may be lost and saturation may occur under certain conditions, and that the data system can report artifact ions under these conditions.