Microplasma Ionization of Volatile Organics for Improving Air/Water Monitoring Systems On-Board the International Space Station.

Low molecular weight polar organics are commonly observed in spacecraft environments. Increasing concentrations of one or more of these contaminants can negatively impact Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) systems and/or the health of crew members, posing potential risks to the success of manned space missions. Ambient plasma ionization mass spectrometry (MS) is finding effective use as part of the analytical methodologies being tested for next-generation space module environmental analysis.

Electrothermal Vaporization Sample Introduction for Spaceflight Water Quality Monitoring via Gas Chromatography-Differential Mobility Spectrometry.

In the history of manned spaceflight, environmental monitoring has relied heavily on archival sampling. However, with the construction of the International Space Station (ISS) and the subsequent extension in mission duration up to one year, an enhanced, real-time method for environmental monitoring is necessary. The station air is currently monitored for trace volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using gas chromatography-differential mobility spectrometry (GC-DMS) via the Air Quality Monitor (AQM), while water is analyzed to measure total organic carbon and biocide concentrations using the Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) and the Colorimetric Water Quality Monitoring Kit (CWQMK), respectively.

Electro-thermal vaporization direct analysis in real time-mass spectrometry for water contaminant analysis during space missions.

The development of a direct analysis in real time-mass spectrometry (DART-MS) method and first prototype vaporizer for the detection of low molecular weight (∼30-100 Da) contaminants representative of those detected in water samples from the International Space Station is reported. A temperature-programmable, electro-thermal vaporizer (ETV) was designed, constructed, and evaluated as a sampling interface for DART-MS. The ETV facilitates analysis of water samples with minimum user intervention while maximizing analytical sensitivity and sample throughput.

Ground-State, Mode-Dependent Vibronic Coupling in Some Simple, Cyanide-Bridged Transition-Metal Donor-Acceptor Complexes.

Patterns of the shifts in bridging cyanide-stretching frequencies have been examined in several fully saturated, &mgr;-cyano, bi- or trimetallic transition-metal donor-acceptor (D/A) complexes. An earlier (Watzky, M. A.

Comparison of Physical and Photophysical Properties of Monometallic and Bimetallic Ruthenium(II) Complexes Containing Structurally Altered Diimine Ligands.

The physical and photophysical properties of a series of monometallic, [Ru(bpy)(2)(dmb)](2+), [Ru(bpy)(2)(BPY)](2+), [Ru(bpy)(Obpy)](2+) and [Ru(bpy)(2)(Obpy)](2+), and bimetallic, [{Ru(bpy)(2)}(2)(BPY)](4+) and [{Ru(bpy)(2)}(2)(Obpy)](4+), complexes are examined, where bpy is 2,2'-bipyridine, dmb is 4,4'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine, BPY is 1,2-bis(4-methyl-2,2'-bipyridin-4'-yl)ethane, and Obpy is 1,2-bis(2,2'-bipyridin-6-yl)ethane. The complexes display metal-to-ligand charge transfer transitions in the 450 nm region, intraligand pi --> pi transitions at energies greater than 300 nm, a reversible oxidation of the ruthenium(II) center in the 1.25-1.