ABSTRACT
A hand-held commercially available ion mobility spectrometer (IMS) was used for continuous monitoring of airborne organic vapors in laboratory and field investigations. Laboratory studies were used to characterize mobility spectra of individual compounds, instrumental response times, and effects of chemical interferents. IMS has long been considered a technology with characteristics that portended the practical advancement as an atmospheric monitor. The initial IMS event of analyte ionization is based on electron or proton exchanges between a reservoir of reactant ions in the ion source and the analyte of interest. Instrumentation for IMS has recently been miniaturized and hand-held wholly portable instruments have become available for use in atmospheric monitoring. A hand-held commercial ion mobility spectrometer was shown to exhibit dynamic response to organic vapor plumes with response times better than 8 sec.
