243 

 This figure is included for several reasons. Upon first inspection, the sample 

 may not appear to contain more than 100 discernible peaks; however, the typical 

 analysis by the methods employed here contains over 300 peaks, and may contain up 

 to 350 distinct components. Contained within the RIC trace are many low intensity 

 peaks obscured by the intensity scale use to display the acid peaks. It is evident from 

 this figure that most readily seen components provide observable peaks in CI and EI. 

 There are many components in these analyses that provided interesting problems in 

 terms of identification; however, at this time, only two chromatographic peaks in this 

 figure will be addressed. 



The first component of interest is poorly chromatographed and located at a 

 retention time of 6 min. This peak is noticeably abundant in the sample, and it is 

 clearly seen that information in EI is scarce by the absence of significant peak. 

 Upon examination in NCI mode, this peak was identified by its relative molecular 

 mass and characteristic fragment ions of lactic acid (see chapter 3). The second 

 abundant component, located at a retention time between 8 and 10 min, eluded 

 identification for some time, despite being one of the most abundant peaks in 

 analyses conducted with this subject. Due to the absence of a molecular ion in the 

 EI mass spectrum for this compound, the shape of the peak as well as relative 

 molecular mass information from PCI and NCI were employed to aid in 

 identification. The shape of this peak is similar to that of lactic acid; therefore, it 

 was expected that this compound may also be a hydroxy acid, or possibly similar in 



