Fundamental Studies of Ion Formation from Charged and Neutral Drops with Applications to Gas Phase Ion Chemistry and Chemical Analysis

California Institute Of Technology, Pasadena CA

Investigators

Abstract

J. L. Beauchamp of the California Institute of Technology is supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program to study the mechanism of ion formation from charged and neutral drops with applications to gas phase ion chemistry and chemical analysis. Frontier research is planned in three areas, including (1) continued studies of the mechanism of desolvated ion formation from small charged droplets, expected to provide greater insights into the process of ion formation in electrospray ionization (ESI) (2) a new initiative to characterize a novel method developed in the PI laboratory using field induced droplet ionization (FIDI), to extract molecular ions and clusters from neutral droplets, based on neutral droplet instability in strong electric fields and (3) application of these methods to studies ranging from environmental analysis to nanoparticle chemistry. These studies are expected to lead to new and efficient techniques for ion collection and analysis, with applications that include not only the sensitive detection of biological molecules, but also measurements of explosives, chemical and biological weapons agents, and chemicals of environmental interest.