Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) has been commercially implemented in gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) instruments within the past decade and is becoming an important complementary tool to traditional GC-electron impact (EI) ionization-MS and liquid chromatography MS (LC-MS) for quantitative and nontarget screening purposes. APCI is a soft ionization technique, so more molecular ions and/or protonated molecules are present than when the traditional EI source is implemented, improving the sensitivity and selectivity of analytical methods. Moreover, this state-of-the-art apparatus facilitates the identification of chemicals not contained in commercial libraries. In this review, parameters inside and outside the APCI source could influence the sensitivity of the analysis are discussed. Trends towards improvement of APCI source and combination with multidimensionality further improve the quantitative and qualitative analysis of GC-MS. Finally, the applications of GC-APCI-MS, especially in nontarget studies are addressed.

大气压化学电离（APCI）在过去十年中已在气相色谱质谱（GC-MS）仪器中实现了商业应用，并且正成为传统GC电子碰撞（EI）电离MS和液相色谱MS（ LC-MS）用于定量和非目标筛选。APCI是一种软电离技术，因此与实施传统EI离子源相比，存在更多的分子离子和/或质子化分子，从而提高了分析方法的灵敏度和选择性。此外，这种最先进的设备有助于识别商业图书馆中所不包含的化学物质。在这篇综述中，讨论了APCI源内部和外部的参数可能会影响分析的敏感性。改进APCI来源并与多维结合的趋势进一步改善了GC-MS的定量和定性分析。最后，讨论了GC-APCI-MS的应用，尤其是在非目标研究中的应用。