Petroleômica por espectrometria de massas Orbitrap: um enfoque em geoquímica

Abstract

Ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHR-MS) stands out as a method capable of determining the composition of complex matrices, especially polar compounds in petroleum samples as well as their fractions. Orbitrap emerges as a new technology in the UHR-MS and stands out as innovative, mainly due to the economic viability since it uses an electric field instead of a magnetic field (that requires a high consumption of nitrogen and helium to cool the magnet). One of the limitations of Orbitrap is its resolving power for complex matrices, which is lower than FT-ICR MS. However, recent studies show that Orbitrap can be used, in some situations, in petroleomics. This study aims to evaluate the performance of the Orbitrap Q-Exactive system in the analysis of crude oils and their fractions obtained by MPLC, regarding the number and profile of identified components. In addition, to verify if the information obtained by Orbitrap Q-Exactive can resolve geochemical issues and will carry on the same conclusions obtained by the analyzes in the FT-ICR MS. The data obtained in this study suggest that it is possible to predict trends and evaluate geochemical parameters for different fractionated oils, and thus compare the data by FT-ICR MS. Thus, the use of Orbitrap was shown to be feasible to solve geochemical issues via UHR-MS.