Ion cyclotron resonance frequency, f, is conventionally converted to ion mass-to-charge ratio, m/z (mass "calibration") by fitting experimental data spanning the entire detected m/z range to the relation, m/z = A/f + B/f(2), to yield rms mass error as low as ~200 ppb for ~10,000 resolved components of a petroleum crude oil. Analysis of residual error versus m/z and peak abundance reveals that systematic errors limit mass accuracy and thus the confidence in elemental composition assignments. Here, we present a calibration procedure in which the spectrum is divided into dozens of adjoining segments, and a separate calibration is applied to each, thereby eliminating systematic error with respect to m/z. Further, incorporation of a third term in the calibration equation that is proportional to the magnitude of each detected peak minimizes systematic error with respect to ion abundance. Finally, absorption-mode data analysis increases mass measurement accuracy only after minimization of systematic errors. We are able to increase the number of assigned peaks by as much as 25%, while reducing the rms mass error by as much as 3-fold, for significantly improved confidence in elemental composition assignment.

It has been known for 35 years that phase correction of FTICR data can in principle produce an absorption-mode spectrum with mass resolving power as much as a factor of 2 higher than conventional magnitude-mode display, an improvement otherwise requiring a (much more expensive) increase in magnetic field strength. However, temporally dispersed excitation followed by time-delayed detection results in steep quadratic variation of signal phase with frequency. Here, we present a robust, rapid, automated method to enable accurate broadband phase correction for all peaks in the mass spectrum. Low-pass digital filtering effectively eliminates the accompanying baseline roll. Experimental FTICR absorption-mode mass spectra exhibit at least 40% higher resolving power (and thus an increased number of resolved peaks) as well as higher mass accuracy relative to magnitude mode spectra, for more complete and more reliable elemental composition assignments for mixtures as complex as petroleum.

No abstract

Heavy petroleum fractions are structurally and compositionally complex mixtures that defy characterization by many traditional analytical techniques. Here, we present the detailed characterization of a Middle Eastern heavy crude oil distillation series, in further support of the Boduszynski model, which proposes that petroleum is a continuum with regard to composition, molecular weight, aromaticity, and heteroatom content as a function of the boiling point. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) provides ultrahigh resolving power and mass accuracy and thereby allows for elemental assignment for each of the tens of thousands of peaks in a single crude oil sample. Part 1 of our five-part series established the validity of the Boduszynski model for the heavy vacuum gas oil (HVGO) distillation series. Here, we extend our analysis to fractions from a Middle Eastern heavy crude with cut temperatures including and beyond the middle distillate range. Collectively, the detailed compositional results for all heteroatom classes strongly support the continuity model. Interestingly, extrapolation of distillable compositional space to a high carbon number (up to 1 MDa) cannot account for the bulk properties of nondistillable (asphaltenic) species. Thus, either the continuity model does not accurately describe nondistillable petroleum materials (they are discontinuous in compositional space) or they are not high-molecular-weight (>2000 Da) materials.