Characterization of Ce3+-tributyl phosphate coordination complexes produced by fused droplet electrospray ionization with a target capillary

• Published in: Journal of mass spectrometry. 2011-12, Vol.46 (12), p.1274-1281
• Main Authors: Groenewold, G. S., Gaumet, J.-J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: capillary target; Chemistry; coordination complex; Coordination compounds; desorption electrospray; electrospray; Exact sciences and technology; fused droplet ESI; Inorganic chemistry and origins of life; lanthanide; Preparations and properties; solvent extraction
• ISSN: 1076-5174; 1096-9888
• DOI: 10.1002/jms.2015

Coordination complexes containing Ce(III) and tri‐n‐butyl phosphate (TBP) in the 1+, 2+ and 3+ charge states were generated using both direct infusion electrospray ionization (ESI) and fused droplet (FD) ESI using a target capillary, in which the analyte solutions are impinged by the ESI droplets. The same coordination complexes were produced in each experiment, and their relative abundances were also very close, suggesting that similar processes are occurring in both experiments. The ion species formed in both experiments have the general formula [Ce(NO3)m=0–2(TBP)n=3–7](3‐m)+. The appearance of abundant 1+ and 2+ ion pair complexes indicated that the ESI process was modifying the ion populations in the original solutions, which contain predominantly 3+ and 2+ species. The FD ESI experiments were less sensitive for coordination complexes compared to direct infusion ESI; however, mid‐picomolar quantities of coordination complexes were measured using the target capillary, indicating that sensitivity would be sufficient for measuring species in many industrial separations processes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.