Ionization of pesticides using a far-ultraviolet femtosecond laser in gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

The fourth harmonic emission (200 nm) of a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser (35 fs) was generated and used in the multiphoton ionization of 49 pesticides in gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The limit of detection was improved when the ionization source from the third harmonic emission (267 nm) was replaced with the fourth harmonic emission for several pesticide molecules that contained no conjugated double bonds since their absorption bands are located in the far-ultraviolet region. This analytical instrument was used in the analysis of a series of real samples including potatoes, carrots, and cabbage, and a signal suspected to arise from di-allate was observed for the potato sample. ᅟ