Abstract
Ionization methods working under atmospheric pressure, such as ESI and APCI, are now indispensable for measuring non-volatile organic compounds, and provide LC/MS. These methods, however, have several disadvantages, e.g., they are less sensitive for less polar compounds and have limitations in the use of solvents. Liquid ionization mass spectrometry utilizes excited argon for ionizing organic compounds (liquids or in solution) at atmospheric pressure. Also, it is possible to use a variety of additives to obtain ions related to the molecular weight. Therefore, the method is useful to analyze a mixture containing non-volatile, either polar or non-polar, organic compounds, and also gives information about hydrogen-bonded clusters present in the gas phase and at the liquid surface. The method provides different applications in the field of mass spectrometry. This review describes the development and several applications of this method.
