Collaborative Research: RUI: Ion Mobility Spectrometry Radiative Ion-Ion Neutralization for Gas-Phase Ion Spectroscopy

在化学系化学测量和成像项目的支持下，Azusa Pacific University APU的Davis教授和华盛顿州立大学（WSU）的Clowers教授正在研究一种新的方法，使用一种称为辐射离子-离子中和（RIIN）的技术来检测和表征痕量水平的化学品。在Davis和Clowers博士的指导下，一个由本科生和研究生研究人员组成的联合团队提出了一种创新的化学检测方法，该方法有可能直接受益于一些常规用于民用和军用领域的环境监测，医疗诊断和威胁检测的现有技术。目前用于在现场检测痕量化学品的方法通常依赖于不仅忽略诊断有用信息，而且限制可能达到的化学检测极限的技术。辐射离子-离子中和机制的成功表征提高了快速化学测量和从初步安全筛选到生物化学的影响领域提供的信息水平。通过这个项目的实施，APU的学生有机会在夏季学术月份前往华盛顿州立大学与Clowers博士和他的学生在研究生水平的研究环境中工作，而WSU的学生有机会在学年期间前往APU，以获得领导研究和指导本科生研究助理的经验。 用于在高压下进行离子检测的现有方法固有地受到模拟电路的信噪比性能特性的限制。 目前，没有兼容的离子放大技术能够在大气条件下进行单离子计数。这就制约了离子迁移谱作为痕量分析工具的发展。 辐射离子-离子中和（RIIN）提供了一种记录气相离子信号的新方法，该方法还将光谱学与传统的离子迁移率测量相结合。RIIN检测平台的开发和表征跨越三个目标进行：1）开发RIIN作为定量气相离子转导机制; 2）确定RIIN光子释放机制;和3）利用波长分辨的RIIN信号用于化学鉴定。RIIN系统提供的独特信号转导直接有利于专注于表征大气压气相离子的平台，并增加了高度信息化的第二维信息，可以更精确地评估复杂混合物的化学含量。这项工作的一个同样重要的目标是整合RIIN通知气相光谱到离子迁移率实验。由此产生的多维平台代表了一种新的分析方法和手段，直接探测气相离子的化学官能团。

With support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Davis at Azusa Pacific University APU) and Professor Clowers at Washington State University (WSU) are pursuing a new approach for detecting and characterizing chemicals at trace levels using a technique termed Radiative Ion-Ion Neutralization (RIIN). Under the guidance of Drs. Davis and Clowers, a combined team of undergraduate and graduate researchers advance an innovative approach to chemical detection that has the potential to directly benefit a number of existing technologies routinely used for environmental monitoring, medical diagnostics, and threat detection in both the civilian and military domains. Current methods for detecting trace chemicals in the field often rely upon technology that not only ignores diagnostically-useful information, but restricts the chemical detection limits that may be reached. Successful characterization of the Radiative Ion-Ion Neutralization (RIIN) mechanism enhances the levels of information provided from rapid chemical measurements and impact fields from preliminary security screening to biochemistry. Through the implementation of this project, students from APU have the opportunity to travel to WSU during the summer academic months to work with Dr. Clowers and his students in a graduate-level research environment while students from WSU have the opportunity to travel to APU during the academic year to gain experience leading research and mentoring undergraduate research assistants. Existing approaches for ion detection at high pressure are inherently limited by the signal-to-noise performance characteristics of analog circuitry. At present, no compatible ion amplification technology is capable of single ion-counting under atmospheric conditions. This has constrained the growth and development of ion mobility spectrometry as a trace analytical tool. Radiative Ion-Ion Neutralization (RIIN) provides a new means of recording gas-phase ion signals that also integrates optical spectroscopy with traditional ion mobility measurements. The development and characterization of the RIIN detection platform is pursued across three objectives: 1) Development of RIIN as a quantitative gas-phase ion-transduction mechanism; 2) Determination of the RIIN photon release mechanism; and 3) Leveraging wavelength resolved RIIN signals for chemical identification. The unique signal transduction provided by the RIIN system directly benefits platforms focused on characterizing atmospheric pressure gas-phase ions and adds a highly informative second dimension of information that can more precisely assess the chemical content of complex mixtures. An equally important goal of this work is the integration of RIIN-informed gas-phase spectroscopy into the ion mobility experiment. The resulting multidimensional platform represents both a new analytical methodology and means of directly probing the chemical functional groups for gas-phase ions.