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Abstract:
We examine the potential for PTR-TOF-MS systems to quantitatively measure glyoxal in ambient air by characterizing the response of the instrument to a dilute glyoxal sample, calibrating the system as a function of humidity. The concentration of glyoxal in a sample air-stream was measured with an UV absorption spectrometer in parallel to a PTR-TOF-MS. This calibration demonstrated that the PTR-TOF-MS has a relatively low sensitivity to glyoxal particularly at high humidity. Extensive fragmentation of glyoxal to formaldehyde was observed. This behaviour not only desensitizes PTR-MS system to glyoxal; it may also pose a problem to the quantification of formaldehyde.
