Journal of Chromatography & Separation Techniques
Open Access

Applications of ambient mass spectrometry in food safety, phytochemistry, hair forensics and organic monolayer characterization

International Summit on Current Trends in Mass Spectrometry

July 13-15, 2015 New Orleans, USA

Teris A van Beek

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Chromatogr Sep Tech

Abstract :

Ambient mass spectrometry allows sampling on your benchtop at atmospheric pressure and often without any sample preparation. A short overview of ambient MS is given including ionization mechanisms. Several applications of Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART), Desorption Electrospray Ionization (DESI), Laser Ablation Electrospray Ionization (LAESI) and direct spray Mass Spectrometry (MS) from the author�??s lab are presented. DART-MS is a versatile, easy to handle and fast technique allowing sometimes even quantitative measurements of alkaloids, terpenes and flavonoids. An example is the measurement of the neurotoxin anisatin in dry Japanese star anise fruits without any extraction or sample preparation, allowing in seconds an unambiguous distinction between morphologically similar Chinese and Japanese star anise. In combination with high-resolution MS or MS/MS, it can be used for screening, quality control of herbal drugs and organic monolayers, adulteration detection, metabolomics and forensics. It can also be hyphenated to HPLC or TLC. LAESI-MS in combination with Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) can resolve ions with identical mass, opening up new avenues for rapid fingerprinting. Pros and cons of the various techniques are presented.