Interactions of multiple reactant ions with 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene studied by corona discharge ion mobility-mass spectrometry

• Interactions of multiple RI generated in CD, with molecules of TNT.
• Reactions of TNT with RI generated from CD operated in reverse gas flow mode.
• Reactions of TNT with RI generated from CD operated in standard gas flow mode.
• We investigated the stability of product ions under various conditions of IMS.

In this work we present a study of the interactions of multiple reactant ions (RI) generated in corona discharge (CD) with molecules of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) using the ion mobility orthogonal-acceleration time of flight mass spectrometry (IMS-oaTOF) technique. We have studied response of TNT molecules to different reactant ions (RI) such as O2−, Cl−, N2O2−, NO3− or NO3−·(HNO3). The response of TNT to RI results in formation of multitude of species, such as TNT−, (TNT-H)− and cluster ions. Additionally, we have investigated the stability of TNT− ions as function of IMS gas temperature and drift field intensity and their conversion to (TNT-H)−. Formation of some product ions was assigned to degradation of TNT by neutral reactive species generated by the CD.

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