Desorption/ionization of acrylamide in aqueous solutions in atmospheric pressure air using a microdischarge with vortex focusing of ions

A method of desorption/ionization in a microdischarge with ion vortex focusing (vortex focusing microdischarge, VFM) is suggested. A glow microdischarge is initiated in an air flow, and resulting ions act on the surface of interest. As a model compound, an aqueous solution of acrylamide is taken. Desorption/ionization taking place under atmospheric pressure is followed by the mass-spectrometric identification of the ions. The operating parameters of the VFM system are studied and optimized. Upon optimization of the system, the detection limit of acrylamide trace amounts in aqueous solutions is determined using the suggested method of desorption/ionization and analyte ion focusing with a vortex (swirling) jet. The acrylamide detection limit is found to be 2 $\times$ 10$^{-3}$ g/L.