A novel direct-infusion atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry method to identify saturated straight-chain hydrocarbons in light shredder waste fraction has been developed. Ionization of alkanes under nitrogen gas source favored hydrogen abstraction producing mostly (M–H)+ ions, which strictly correspond to their respective series of n-alkanes between n-decane (C10) and n-tetra-contane (C40). The method is shown to produce intact gas phase ions of n-alkane in both reference and real life waste samples. APCI-MS2 fragmentation data assisted in the structural verification of the n-alkanes investigated in both standard and waste mixtures.
