7. Analysis of RICO reaction products of various coals by using ESI FT-ICR MS

Abstract

Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) realizes accurate mass measurements due to ultrahigh resolution. When this MS is combined with electrospray ionization (ESI), known as a soft ionization method, molecular formulas of every constituent in a very complex mixture may be estimated directly without any pre-separation procedures. This MS was applied to solubilized products of coals after RICO reaction and gave complex spectra consisting of many peaks less than 400Da. Based on detected unsaturated dicarboxylic acids and saturated monocarboxylic acids, chemical structure of coal is discussed.