Theta-glass capillaries in electrospray ionization: rapid mixing and short droplet lifetimes.

ABSTRACT: Double-barrel wire-in-a-capillary electrospray emitters prepared from theta-glass capillaries were used to mix solutions during the electrospray process. The relative flow rate of each barrel was continuously monitored with internal standards. The complexation reaction of 18-crown-6 and K(+), introduced from opposite barrels, reaches equilibrium during the electrospray process, suggesting that complete mixing also occurs. A simplified diffusion model suggests that mixing occurs in less than a millisecond, and contributions of turbulence, estimated from times of coalescing ballistic microdroplets, suggest that complete mixing occurs within a few microseconds. This mixing time is 2 orders of magnitude less than in any mixer previously coupled to a mass spectrometer. The reduction of 2,6-dich

SUBMITTER: Mortensen DN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4165459 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature