New ion chemistry methods for rapid mass spectrometric monitoring of atmospheric biogenic volatile organic compounds responsible for air pollution

The field of instrumental monitoring of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) is currently an important area of research in mass spectrometry. Present techniques allow off-line analysis of air samples (e.g. TD-GC/MS) whilst the available on-line techniques (proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry, PTR-MS) can quantify only the total concentration of several isomers of important non-methane BVOCs represented by mono- and sesquiterpenenes. The aim of the proposed project is to develop an analytical technique that will allow selective monitoring of individual isomers of mono- and sesquiterpenes in real time (