Quality assurance and quality control of atmospheric organosulfates measured using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC)

Liu, Ping; Ding, Xiang; Li, Bo-Xuan; Zhang, Yu-Qing; Bryant, Daniel J.; Wang, Xin-Ming

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3067-2024

Articles | Volume 17, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3067-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3067-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 17, issue 10

Research article

|

22 May 2024

Research article |

| 22 May 2024

Quality assurance and quality control of atmospheric organosulfates measured using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC)

Ping Liu, Xiang Ding, Bo-Xuan Li, Yu-Qing Zhang, Daniel J. Bryant, and Xin-Ming Wang

Download

Final revised paper (published on 22 May 2024)
Preprint (discussion started on 03 Jan 2024)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

RC1:
'Comment on amt-2023-250', Anonymous Referee #1, 09 Feb 2024

Please see detailed comments in the attached file

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-250-RC1
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Ping Liu, 27 Mar 2024
  
  We sincerely appreciate your valuable comments, which have substantially enhanced the quality of the manuscript and improved the manuscript. Below, we provide point-by-point responses to the reviewers' comments.
  Comments 1-4:
  Reply: See the supplement file "Response to reviews".
  Comment 5: Figure 1. The specific value for m/z HSO₄^- should keep same. m/z 96.9 and m/z 97.1 can not be assigned to the same fragment ion in high resolution MS.
  Reply: We revised, see the new Fig. 4, line 293.
  Comment 6: Figure 1 and throughout the manuscript: The m/z values and concentration values must report the same correct number of significant figures.
  Reply: We revised, see the new Fig. 4, line 293 and markup section.
  Comment 7: “m/z” and “k” should be italic. Line 239: “SO₄^-”should be “·SO₄^-”; Line 269:“5.24.6.07” should be “5.24, 6.07”. Authors should also carefully check and correct other typos and grammar errors that are not listed here.
  Reply: We revised, for “·SO₄^-”, see new line 286, for “5.24, 6.07”, see new line 314, and we also checked the full text and made changes, as detailed in the markup revised section.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-250-AC1
RC2:
'Comment on amt-2023-250', Anonymous Referee #2, 03 Mar 2024

General Comments:
This manuscript uses Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography (HILIC) to analyze isoprene-derived organosulfates in the Pearl River Delta. The results show that the relative error is extremely small, the experimental reproducibility is high, the analysis procedure is stable, and the results are reliable. The research content aligns with the publication scope of the Atmospheric Measurement Techniques journal, and publication is recommended after revisions.
Specific Comments:
1) The full name of the abbreviations should be given at the first time the abbreviations appear. For example, “OSs” in Line 31, “ACN” in Line 114, etc.
2) Some figures and tables in the manuscript have not been referenced in the text, such as Table 3 and Figure 1. All figures and tables should be cited and introduced in the text.
3) Line 269: the dot between “5.24” and “6.07” should be a comma.
4) Line 289: the comma in this line should be a dot.
5) In Table 9, the column “retention time” is sometimes aligned with “daytime” and sometimes positioned between “daytime” and “nighttime”. Is this a formatting issue? If not, it should be explained in the manuscript.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-250-RC2
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Ping Liu, 27 Mar 2024
  
  We greatly appreciate the time and effort you dedicated to thoroughly reviewing our manuscript. We have carefully considered each point and have made revisions accordingly. We believe that your input has significantly improved the manuscript. Below are our responses to each comment.
  Comment 1: The full name of the abbreviations should be given at the first time the abbreviations appear. For example, “OSs” in Line 31, “ACN” in Line 114, etc.
  Reply: We revised, see new lines 28 and 115, and we also checked the full text, see revision with markup for more details.
  Comment 2: Some figures and tables in the manuscript have not been referenced in the text, such as Table 3 and Figure 1. All figures and tables should be cited and introduced in the text.
  Reply: We revised, see new lines 213-216 and 290-292.
  Comment 3: Line 269: the dot between “5.24” and “6.07” should be a comma.
  Reply: We revised, see new line 314.
  Comment 4: Line 289: the comma in this line should be a dot.
  Reply: We revised, see new line 333.
  Comment 5: In Table 9, the column “retention time” is sometimes aligned with “daytime” and sometimes positioned between “daytime” and “nighttime”. Is this a formatting issue? If not, it should be explained in the manuscript.
  Reply: We are sorry, it's a formatting issue. We revised it, see new Table 10.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-250-AC2

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload

AR by Ping Liu on behalf of the Authors (27 Mar 2024) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (29 Mar 2024) by Meng Gao

ED: Publish as is (04 Apr 2024) by Meng Gao

AR by Ping Liu on behalf of the Authors (08 Apr 2024) Manuscript

Short summary

In this paper, we further optimize the measurement of atmospheric organosulfates by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC), offering an improved method for quantifying and speciating atmospheric organosulfates. These efforts will contribute to a deeper understanding of secondary organic aerosol precursors, formation mechanisms, and the contribution of organosulfate to atmospheric aerosols, ultimately guiding research in the field of air pollution prevention and control.