Increasing analytical space in gas chromatography-differential mobility spectrometry with dispersion field amplitude programming

Review on ion mobility spectrometry. Part 2: hyphenated methods and effects of experimental parameters

Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) is a widely used and 'well-known' technique of ion separation in the gaseous phase based on the differences of ion mobilities under an electric field. This technique has received increased interest over the last several decades as evidenced by the pace and advances of new IMS devices available. In this review we explore the hyphenated techniques that are used with IMS, specifically mass spectrometry as an identification approach and a multi-capillary column as a pre-separation approach. Also, we will pay special attention to the key figures of merit of the ion mobility spectrum and how data sets are treated, and the influences of the experimental parameters on both conventional drift time IMS (DTIMS) and miniaturized IMS also known as high Field Asymmetric IMS (FAIMS) in the planar configuration. The present review article is preceded by a companion review article which details the current instrumentation and contains the sections that configure both conventional DTIMS and FAIMS devices. These reviews will give the reader an insightful view of the main characteristics and aspects of the IMS technique.

A mobile instrumentation platform to distinguish airway disorders

Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are distinct but clinically overlapping airway disorders which often create diagnostic and therapeutic dilemmas. Current strategies to discriminate these diseases are limited by insensitivity and poor performance due to biologic variability. We tested the hypothesis that a gas chromatograph/differential mobility spectrometer (GC/DMS) sensor could distinguish between clinically well-defined groups with airway disorders based on the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) obtained from exhaled breath. After comparing VOC profiles obtained from 13 asthma, 5 COPD and 13 healthy control subjects, we found that VOC profiles distinguished asthma from healthy controls and also a subgroup of asthmatics taking the drug omalizumab from healthy controls. The VOC profiles could not distinguish between COPD and any of the other groups. Our results show a potential application of the GC/DMS for non-invasive and bedside diagnostics of asthma and asthma therapy monitoring. Future studies will focus on larger sample sizes and patient cohorts.

Automated peak detection and matching algorithm for gas chromatography-differential mobility spectrometry

A gas chromatography-differential mobility spectrometer (GC-DMS) involves a portable and selective mass analyzer that may be applied to chemical detection in the field. Existing approaches examine whole profiles and do not attempt to resolve peaks. A new approach for peak detection in the 2D GC-DMS chromatograms is reported. This method is demonstrated on three case studies: a simulated case study; a case study of headspace gas analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTb) cultures consisting of three matching GC-DMS and GC-MS chromatograms; a case study consisting of 41 GC-DMS chromatograms of headspace gas analysis of MTb culture and media.

Optimising cell temperature and dispersion field strength for the screening for putrescine and cadaverine with thermal desorption-gas chromatography-differential mobility spectrometry

Biogenic amines, and putrescine and cadaverine in particular, have significant importance in the area of food quality monitoring, and are also potentially important markers of infection, for cancer, diabetes, arthritis and cystic fibrosis. A thermal desorption-gas chromatograph-heated differential mobility spectrometer was constructed and the significant effect of interactions between cell temperature and dispersion field strength on the observed responses studied. The experiment design was a Box-Wilson central composite design (CCD) over the levels of 10-24 kVcm(-1) for dispersion field strength and 100-130 degrees C for cell temperature. The optimum values were estimated to be 16.22 kVcm(-1) and 116 degrees C for putrescine and 14.78 kVcm(-1) and 112 degrees C for cadaverine, respectively with an ammonia dopant at 19 mgm(-3). An amine test atmosphere generator was constructed and produced stable concentrations of putrescine (7 mgm(-3)) and cadaverine (4 mgm(-3)) vapours at 50+/-0.5 degrees C. Tenax TA-Carbotrap adsorbent tubes were used to sample putrescine and cadaverine vapour standards and a linear response function over the range of sample masses 5-20 ng was obtained at 15.0 kVcm(-1) 115 degrees C, with a R(2) of 0.99 for both putrescine and cadaverine. The sample mass at the limit of detection was estimated to be 3 ng for putrescine and cadaverine. Preliminary data from sampling the headspace of chicken meat revealed a 62% increase in the recovered masses of putrescine from 0.84 to 1.36 ng in the sampled air.