Gold nanoparticles-enhanced ion-transmission mass spectrometry for highly sensitive detection of chemical warfare agent simulants.
Talanta 2018;
190:403-409. [PMID:
30172526 DOI:
10.1016/j.talanta.2018.08.021]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2018] [Revised: 07/31/2018] [Accepted: 08/05/2018] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs)-embedded paper was coupled with ion-transmission mass spectrometry (MS) to enable the highly sensitive detection of chemical warfare agent (CWA) simulants in solutions. With the assistance of a low-temperature plasma (LTP) probe, we found that AuNPs were capable to enhance the ionization efficiencies of target analytes, with MS signal intensities surprisingly undergone an 800-fold increase under optimized conditions. The interaction between AuNPs and the radiofrequency electromagnetic field was believed to promote the desorption/ionization process, resulting in the unusual signal enhancement phenomenon. Based on this finding, we established a method for the rapid analysis of two simulants of nerve agents, dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) and diisopropyl methylphosphonate (DIMP), with a dynamic range from 0.5 ng/mL to 100 ng/mL and detection limits of 0.1 ng/mL and 0.3 ng/mL, respectively. As sample pretreatments have been eliminated, the developed strategy is particularly promising for the on-site detection of CWAs considering its simple and rapid analytical workflow.
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