Abstract
WE have recently analysed a sample of medical oxygen by mass spectrometry, and found that the level of carbon monoxide, approximately 1 per cent, far exceeded the toxic level for humans. Subsequent investigation of the literature disclosed that this phenomenon is to be expected because of the interaction of oxygen with carbon impurities in the hot tungsten filament of the mass spectrometer electron gun1–3. In a mass spectrometer, used for general analysis of organic compounds, there is the additional possibility that carbide is formed on the tungsten surface which may then react with oxygen in the system. Carbides of rhenium have the advantage of being less stable than those of tungsten and this has led to the widespread use of rhenium filaments. Even with a rhenium filament, however, significant quantities of carbon monoxide are produced in oxygen analysis.
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BRION, C., STEWART, W. Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Oxygen. Nature 217, 946 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/217946a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/217946a0
