Atmospheric Pressure Desorption Methods

As mentioned in Section 5.2.2, MALDl operated at atmospheric pressure (and thus requiring an APl-MS interface) has received some attention (Laiko 2000 Moyer 2002) although no applications to trace quantitative analysis appear to have been published. An entirely different 

A related but somewhat different method (Cody 2005), labeled direct analysis in real time (DART), uses a flow of chemically inert gas (helium, sometimes nitrogen) that 

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Direct analysis of solid samples or analytes present on solid surfaces without any sample preparation has always been a topic of interest. Desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) is an atmospheric pressure desorption ionization method introduced by Cooks et al., producing ions directly from the surface to be analyzed, which are then sampled with the mass spectrometer [22, 37]. DESI is based on charged liquid droplets that are directed by a high velocity gas jet (in the order of 300 m s ) to the surface to be analyzed. Analytes are desorbed from the surface and analyzed by mass spectrometer (Eig. 1.15). 

Most of the mass spectrometry analyses are conducted under vacuum environment. However, ambient mass spectrometry is a rapidly growing field that provides fast and direct analysis of solid sample surfaces or liquid samples introduced on a suitable surface (Alberici et al. 2010 Weston 2010 Huang et al. 2010 Chen et al. 2010). For that, different ambient ionization MS methods, such as atmospheric pressure desorption/ionization on porous silicon (AP-DIOS) (Huikko et al. 2003), desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) (Takats et al. 2004), direct analysis in real time (DART) (Cody et al. 2005), desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (DAPCI) (Takats et al. 2005), and desorption atmospheric pressure photoionization (DAPPI) (Haapala et al. 2007), have been successfully used in the direct analysis of compounds fi"om various samples, such as body fluids (Cody et al. 2005 Chen et al. 2006), finiits, plant leaves (Luosujarvi et al. 2010), milk (Yang et al. 2009), banknotes (Cody et al. 2005), textiles (Cody et al. 2005 Chen et al. 2007), and pharmaceutical formulations (Ifa et al. 2009 Gheen et al. 2010), just to mention a few, without any sample pretreatment. 

PDI), the sample is dissolved in a volatile solvent and deposited on a nitrocellulose target material, which is subsequently bombarded with the fission fragments [33-37]. Maity mass spectra of PDl-MS show the occurrence of [M+Na]+ next to [M+H]+ [37], PDl-MS has been extensively used for the analysis of biological macromolecules, but has been superseded by MALDl. Atmospheric-pressure desorption ionization methods are briefly discussed in Sect. 7.2.7. 

Desorption Electrospray Ionization (DESI). DESI is a novel gentle ionization method for surface analysis (Figure 2.6).[19,20] Like classical ESI, it operates at atmospheric pressure. No sample preparation is required. A solvent passes through the capillary of the electrospray source charged droplets are produced (primary ions) and they are directed to a solid sample. Their impact with the surface causes sample molecules to be ionized and... 

Atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ ionization AP- MALDI Photon induced desorption/ ionization Nonvolatile molecular ions Soft method Large molecules... 

Analytes must be liberated from their associated solvent molecules as well as be ionized to allow mass separation. Several ionization methods enable ion production from the condensed phase and have been used for the coupling of CE to MS. Among them, atmospheric pressure ionization (API) methods, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI), and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) ionization are mainly used. API techniques are undoubtedly the most widespread ionization sources and cover different analyte polarity ranges. 

Electrospray (ESI) is an atmospheric pressure ionization source in which the sample is ionized at an ambient pressure and then transferred into the MS. It was first developed by John Fenn in the late 1980s [1] and rapidly became one of the most widely used ionization techniques in mass spectrometry due to its high sensitivity and versatility. It is a soft ionization technique for analytes present in solution therefore, it can easily be coupled with separation methods such as LC and capillary electrophoresis (CE). The development of ESI has a wide field of applications, from small polar molecules to high molecular weight compounds such as protein and nucleotides. In 2002, the Nobel Prize was awarded to John Fenn following his studies on electrospray, for the development of soft desorption ionization methods for mass spectrometric analyses of biological macromolecules. ... 

The choice of the ionization method depends on both the nature of the sample and the type of information required from the analysis (Table 23.2). A great variety of ionization methods exists that can be classified into six major categories gas-phase ionization, field desorption and ionization, particle bombardment, atmospheric pressure ionization, and the laser desorption. 

Ion genera lion can be achieved in a number of ways electron impact (Eh ionization, chemical ionization (CI). fas I atom bombardment (FAB), matrix assisted taser desorption ionization (MAI.DI), eleclrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APC I are the most common methods,... 

The ionization methods reported for IMS included MALDI [41,76-80], Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) [19, 81-86], Matrix-enhanced (ME)-SIMS [87, 88], Desorption Electrospray Ionization (DESI) [89-99], Nanostructure Initiator Mass Spectrometry (NIMS) [100-102], Atmospheric Pressure Infrared MALDI Mass Spectrometry (AP-IR-MALDI-MS) [103], Laser Ablation-inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) [104-106], Laser Desorption Postionization (LDPI) [107], Laser Ablation Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (LAESI) [108, 109], and Surface-assisted Laser Desorption/ioniza-tion Mass Spectrometry (SALDI) [110-112], Another method was called probe electrospray ionization (PESI) that was used for both liquid solution and the direct sampling on wet samples. 

These direct ion sources exist under two types liquid-phase ion sources and solid-state ion sources. In liquid-phase ion sources the analyte is in solution. This solution is introduced, by nebulization, as droplets into the source where ions are produced at atmospheric pressure and focused into the mass spectrometer through some vacuum pumping stages. Electrospray, atmospheric pressure chemical ionization and atmospheric pressure photoionization sources correspond to this type. In solid-state ion sources, the analyte is in an involatile deposit. It is obtained by various preparation methods which frequently involve the introduction of a matrix that can be either a solid or a viscous fluid. This deposit is then irradiated by energetic particles or photons that desorb ions near the surface of the deposit. These ions can be extracted by an electric field and focused towards the analyser. Matrix-assisted laser desorption, secondary ion mass spectrometry, plasma desorption and field desorption sources all use this strategy to produce ions. Fast atom bombardment uses an involatile liquid matrix. 

A new ionization method called desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) was described by Cooks and his co-workers in 2004 [86]. This direct probe exposure method based on ESI can be used on samples under ambient conditions with no preparation. The principle is illustrated in Figure 1.36. An ionized stream of solvent that is produced by an ESI source is sprayed on the surface of the analysed sample. The exact mechanism is not yet established, but it seems that the charged droplets and ions of solvent desorb and extract some sample material and bounce to the inlet capillary of an atmospheric pressure interface of a mass spectrometer. The fact is that samples of peptides or proteins produce multiply charged ions, strongly suggesting dissolution of the analyte in the charged droplet. Furthermore, the solution that is sprayed can be selected to optimize the signal or selectively to ionize particular compounds. 

Earlier methods of ionization applied to carotenoids, including electron impact (El), chemical ionization (Cl), a particle beam interface with El or Cl, and continuous-flow fast atom bombardment (CF-FAB), have been comprehensively reviewed elsewhere (van Breemen, 1996, 1997 Pajkovic and van Breemen, 2005). These techniques have generally been replaced by softer ionization techniques like electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI), and more recently atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI). It should be noted that ESI, APCI, and APPI can be used as ionization methods with a direct infusion of an analyte in solution (i.e. not interfaced with an HPLC system), or as the interface between the HPEC and the MS. In contrast, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) cannot be used directly with HPEC. 

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