ANALYSIS OF ION MOBILITY SPECTRA FOR MIXED VAPORS USING GAUSSIAN DECONVOLUTION

A central issue in the utilization of ion mobility spectrometry or che mical analysis is the proper interpretation of ion mobility spectra an d the assignment of peak identities. Ion mobility spectra for contempo rary drift tubes generally produce broad peaks and simple patterns wit hout obvious details associated with structures. These features can hi nder the analyses of spectra derived from mixed vapors. However, addit ional information from such spectra can be extracted through Gaussian deconvolutions. A deconvolution algorithm was examined for sensitivity toward parameters and for boundaries of operation using ion mobility spectra from binary mixtures. An ion-molecule cluster ion, not obvious in traditional spectra analysis, was disclosed by deconvolution analy sis and confirmed by independent ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectr ometry.