Response in Ambient Low Temperature Plasma Ionization Compared to Electrospray and Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization for Mass Spectrometry

Table 1

Summary of analyte and solvent characteristics in how they impact sampling efficiency of the three ionization methods, ESI, APCI, and LTPI, for MS.

	ESI pH 7	ESI pH 3	APCI	LTPI
Analyte
surface tension	(disadvantageous)	disadvantageous	no influence	disadvantageous
polarity	beneficial	(beneficial)	disadvantageous	disadvantageous
volatility	no influence	beneficial	no influence	beneficial
basicity	beneficial	(beneficial)	no influence	no influence
fragmentation	hardly observed	hardly observed	observed	hardly observed
molar size	beneficial	beneficial	beneficial	beneficial
Solvent
surface tension	disadvantageous	disadvantageous	not analyzed	disadvantageous
polarity	beneficial	no influence	not analyzed	no influence
volatility	beneficial	beneficial	not analyzed	disadvantageous
pH	contradictory	contradictory	not analyzed	not analyzed
Reproducibility	moderate	high	high	low

Depending on the interaction between solvent evaporability, electrolyte, and instrumental configuration [15].