Analysis of fullerene clusters using the hyphenation of asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation with Orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry

This application shows that it is possible to couple flow FFF online to an Orbitrap HRMS with an APPI chamber. This setup facilitates the identification of fullerene clusters in aqueous matrices directly after separation of the particles with asymmetrical flow FFF. This enables both to characterize those clusters with non-destructive analytical techniques such as UV-Vis or MALS in the first place and to subsequently identify the mass of the compounds present in the clusters. So far, this had to be done by collecting separate fractions.