Recent developments in synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization coupled to mass spectrometry

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to soft photoionization (PI), which will potentially become a standard, universal ionization method. Tunable synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet (SVUV) light, a quasi-continuous light with good energy resolution and high photon flux, has proved an ideal source for soft PI in various research fields (e.g., combustion chemistry and molecular imaging). This review focuses on combinations of SVUV light with commonly used techniques (e.g., molecular-beam sampling, laser desorption, ion desorption, and thermal vaporization). These couplings have successful applications in flame chemistry, organic analysis, chemical imaging and aerosol mass spectrometry. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.