Fast Sensing of Hydrogen Cyanide (HCN) Vapors Using a Hand-Held Ion Mobility Spectrometer with Nonradioactive Ionization Source

Sensitive real-time detection of vapors produced by toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) always represents a stringent priority. Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is definitely a TIC, being widely used in various industries and as an insecticide; it is a reactive, very flammable, and highly toxic compound that affects the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, eyes, nose, throat, and also has systemic effects. Moreover, HCN is considered a blood chemical warfare agent. This study was focused toward quick detection and quantification of HCN in air using time-of-flight ion mobility spectrometry (ToF IMS). Results obtained clearly indicate that IMS can rapidly detect HCN at sub-ppm(v) levels in air. Ion mobility spectrometric response was obtained in the negative ion mode and presented one single distinct product ion, at reduced ion mobility K(0) of 2.38 cm(2) V(−1) s(−1). Our study demonstrated that by using a miniaturized commercial IMS system with nonradioactive ionization source model LCD-3.2E (Smiths Detection Ltd., London, UK), one can easily measure HCN at concentrations of 0.1 ppm(v) (0.11 mg m(−3)) in negative ion mode, which is far below the OSHA PEL-TWA value of 10 ppm(v). Measurement range was from 0.1 to 10 ppm(v) and the estimated limit of detection LoD was ca. 20 ppb(v) (0.02 mg m(−3)).