| The quadrupole ion trap is a highly versatile and sensitive analytical mass spectrometer. Because of the advantages offered by the ion trap, there has been intense interest in coupling it to ionization techniques such as electrospray which form ions externally to the ion trap. In this work, experiments and computer simulations were employed to study the injection of electrosprayed ions into the ion trap of a Finnigan MAT LCQ LC/MS;The kinetic energy distribution of the ion beam was characterized and found to be relatively wide, a result of the high pressures from the atmospheric pressure source. One of the most important experimental parameters which affects ion injection efficiency is the RF voltage applied to the ring electrode. A theoretical model was fit to experimental data allowing the optimum RF voltage for trapping a given m/z ion to be predicted.;Computer simulations of ion motion were performed to study the effect of various instrumental parameters on trapping efficiency. A commercially available ion optics program, SIMION v6.0, was chosen because it allowed the actual ion trap electrode geometry including endcap holes to be simulated. In contrast to previous computer simulations, SIMION provided the ability to start ions outside the ion trap and to simulate more accurately the injection of externally formed ions. The endcap holes were found to allow the RF field to penetrate out of the ion trap and affect ions as they approached the ion trap. From these simulations, a model for the process by which injected ions are trapped was developed.;Using these computer simulations, techniques of improving trapping efficiency were investigated. Most previous techniques perturb ions which are already in the ion trap and therefore cannot be used to accumulate ions; the ability to accumulate ions is a necessity with ionization sources such as electrospray which form ions continuously. One such novel technique for improving trapping efficiency, phase-sympathetic injection, is presented. It was based on the observation that for a given m/z, ions injected at different kinetic energies were trapped at different RF phases. Three-fold increases in trapping efficiency were experimentally observed for m/z 106.1. |
