Confounding contaminants in mass spectrometric reaction monitoring

Reactions carried out in the presence of rubber septa run the risk of additives being leached out by the solvent. Normally, such species are present at low enough levels that they do not interfere with the reaction significantly. However, when studying reactions using sensitive methods such as mass spectrometry, the appearance of even trace amounts of material can confuse dynamic analyses of reactions. A wide variety of additives are present in rubber along with the polymer: antioxidants, dyes, detergent, and vulcanization agents, and these are all especially problematic in negative ion mode. A redesigned Schlenk flask for pressurized sample infusion (PSI) is presented as a means of practically eliminating the presence of contaminants during reaction analyses.