Mass spectrometry portable

Palausky, M. A. Lammert, S. A. Merriweather, R. Sarver, M. B. Sarver, E. W. A field portable ion trap for the detection of chemical weapons compunds. Proc. 43rd ASMS Conf. on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics, Atlanta, GA, 1995. 

Significant progress has been realized in the miniaturization of separation sciences and mass spectrometric detection. Presently, the samples are transferred to highly specialized laboratories for analysis. But in the future it may become feasible to bring mass spectrometry as a portable technique to the bed for diagnostic or therapeutic monitoring. 

Spectrometry Spectroscopy4 is basically an experimental subject and is concerned with the adsorption, emission or scattering of electromagnetic radiation by atoms or molecules [15, p. 1]. A wide variety of applications of this concept have been applied in analyzing many substances. In the particular case of explosive molecules the most prominent are several forms of mass spectrometry and ion mobility spectrometry. Each has certain advantages and disadvantages. Each is discussed in detail in a later chapter. The former is most often used in fixed applications the latter, in both fixed and portable applications. 

Chapter 11, Mass Spectrometry for Security Screening of Explosives This chapter is a little different from the other technology descriptions since it describes systems that are not portable. These are systems used to locate explosives in containers, or on personnel, that pass by a fixed point. The chapter also compares the features of mass spectrometry (MS) and ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) that often cause systems developers to choose one or the other for a specific application. 

Carbon dioxide may be readily analyzed by various instrumental techniques, such as IR, GC, and GC/MS. Many portable infrared analyzers are available commercially for rapid, on site monitoring of CO2. Also, it can be analyzed by GC using a TCD or an FID. It readily may be identified by mass spectrometry from its characteristic ionic mass 44. Dissolved CO2 in water... 

Mass spectrometry (MS) is highly selective. The ability to further perform tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) analysis when a compound is detected to confirm the detection virtually eliminates false positive and negative alarms. But MS/MS analysis must be completely automated for the average GI to be able to perform it. A clever hand-held chemical and biological mass spectrometer has been developed that weighs only 4.3 pounds. The problem with the unit is production of the necessary vacuum, which requires 35 amps at 24 volts. Thus, battery-operated portable mass spectrometry is not yet available. 

More than 104 ion mobility spectrometers are deployed at airport security checkpoints to detect explosives, and perhaps 105 hand-portable devices are used by military and civil defense personnel. Although functionally similar to mass spectrometers, mobility spectrometers are operated in air at ambient pressure and ion mobility spectrometry is not a form of mass spectrometry. Ion mobility spectrometry does not measure molecular mass and provides no structural information. However, it is so widely used that we introduce it here. 

The continued concern over various residues and additives lead to more efficient and rapid testing methods. Conventional chromatographic testing will be replaced by a 2-tiered approach involving rapid on the spot screening (bio-sensor, immunoassay or portable GC) followed by confirmation by conventional methods. More selective detectors such as mass spectrometry (MS), tandem MS-MS and Fourier Transform infra-red wiU be used and sample preparation will be improved by using SPE, new extraction technologies, and laboratory robotics [36]. 

Microfluidics and miniaturization include the development of small and microscale devices to permit chemical measurements, with the objective of field portability or bedside use. Examples include Raman spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The category also includes devices that employ small-scale fluidics to provide automated sample processing, chemical reactions, separation, and measurement in devices popularly called lab-on-a-chip. 

The use of analytical instruments to detect, analyze and rate the emissions has been a convention in this field (Rock et ai, 2008 Yamazoe and Miura, 1995) examples include instruments such as infra-red (IR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet (UV) absorption, chemiluminescence (Yamazoe and Miura, 1995) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) (James et al, 2005). These analytical techniques are associated with good limits of detection and fast response times (Akbar et al., 2006 Szabo et aL, 2003) however, they do suffer from various disadvantages - such as maintenance requirements, as well as weight and portability issues (Akbar et aL, 2006). They tend to be expensive and therefore are unsuited for tn-situ analysis or continuous operation (Rock et al, 2008). Data gathering may also be time-consuming with these methods (Yamazoe and Miura, 1995), and the requirement for trained personnel to utilise the instruments and conduct analysis also limits their effectiveness (James et al, 2005). 

TR2000DB desktop trace detector Lonestar portable gas analyzer LC/FAIMS/mass spectrometry NEXSENSE C military CWA analyzer... 

---