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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-6002</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Bridging temporal resolution and molecular specificity with a compact GC-PTR for the measurement of volatile organic compounds</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Claflin</surname>
<given-names>Megan S.</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0878-8712</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Lopez-Hilfiker</surname>
<given-names>Felipe</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Rohner</surname>
<given-names>Urs</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yatsyna</surname>
<given-names>Vasyl</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Lerner</surname>
<given-names>Brian M.</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8721-8165</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Thornton</surname>
<given-names>Joel</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Worsnop</surname>
<given-names>Douglas</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Canagaratna</surname>
<given-names>Manjula</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8803-4007</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Jayne</surname>
<given-names>John</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Aerodyne Research, Billerica, MA 01820, USA</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Tofwerk AG, Thun, 3645, Switzerland</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>08</day>
<month>10</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>25</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Megan S. Claflin et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-6002/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-6002/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-6002/egusphere-2026-6002.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-6002/egusphere-2026-6002.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) play important roles in atmospheric chemistry and air quality, but measurements often require a tradeoff between temporal resolution, molecular specificity, and instrument size and complexity. Online chemical-ionization mass spectrometry provides sensitive, rapid measurements but can be affected by isomeric contributions, fragmentation, and other ion-chemistry interferences, whereas gas chromatography (GC) provides molecular separation and specificity at lower temporal resolution. Here, we present a compact, low-power VOC measurement system that combines &lt;em&gt;in-situ&lt;/em&gt; gas chromatography and thermal desorption (TD) preconcentration with a newly developed ultracompact proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer (PTR-TOF-MS) equipped with a novel vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) ion source. The complete system occupies a 50 x 65 x 55 cm space, weighs &amp;lt; 70 kg, and consumes &amp;lt; 600 W of power during typical operation. The instrument combines high-time resolution, direct PTR measurements with periodic chromatographic measurements for regular molecular speciation. The system was operated continuously for 30 days in Thun, Switzerland with stable calibrant response (average variation of 3.5 %) during the ambient measurement period, with demonstrated direct-PTR limits of detection (LODs) of 13 &amp;ndash; 136 ppt (1-min) and GC-PTR LODs of 0.1 &amp;ndash; 4.0 ppt (1 L sample) across 11 calibrants. Together, these results demonstrate a complementary approach to instrument miniaturization in which reduced detector performance can be offset by upstream analytical separation and preconcentration. In this configuration, the direct PTR measurement provides high-time resolution observations, while periodic chromatographic measurements provide molecular specificity, sensitivity enhancement, and information on analyte-specific ion chemistry and interferences. By reducing the size, power requirements, and operational complexity, this system provides a pathway toward broader deployment of chemically specific VOC measurements at long-term monitoring sites, on mobile platforms, and in locations where infrastructure or reliable power is limited, to investigate emission sources, atmospheric processing, and the formation of secondary pollutants.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="25"/></counts>
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