Articles | Volume 18, issue 17
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-4227-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-4227-2025
Research article
 | 
09 Sep 2025
Research article |  | 09 Sep 2025

Identifying key parameters that affect sensitivity of flow tube chemical ionization mass spectrometers

Sneha Aggarwal, Priyanka Bansal, Yuwei Wang, Spiro Jorga, Gabrielle Macgregor, Urs Rohner, Thomas Bannan, Matthew Salter, Paul Zieger, Claudia Mohr, and Felipe Lopez-Hilfiker

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Short summary
Chemical ionization mass spectrometers used for trace gas analysis can be operated under various conditions, complicating quantitative comparisons. We evaluate sensitivity dependence on a relatively few key instrument parameters and show that when these are held constant, consistent performance is achieved. We show that the maximum sensitivity of a given flow tube reactor across various reagent ion chemistries is a constant, which aids in the quantification of compounds lacking analytical standards.
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