LASER ABLATION FOURIER-TRANSFORM MASS-SPECTROMETRIC INVESTIGATION OF COALS AND MODEL MATERIALS

Several different rank Australian coals, two American anthracites, graphite and a selection of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons have been studied by laser ablation FT-m.s.. It is shown that by doping the samples with alkali metal salts, adduct ions are observed for the polycyclic hydrocarbon model compounds, while a range of various size carbon clusters are formed from graphite and the coals. There is an apparent relationship between the ease of large positive carbon cluster formation from the coals and the degree of polycyclic ring condensation. This suggests that the technique may be useful for estimating the ordering of aromatic lattices in higher ranked coals and graphitic material. © 1990.