Journal of Analytical & Bioanalytical Techniques
Open Access

Abstract

Detection and quantification of illicit compounds at trace level is very much important for public health, security and safety. Mass spectrometry (MS) has already been demonstrated its versatility for detection and quantification of a wide range of compounds at trace level because MS can provide molecular level information of the target compounds. So far, none of the ion source can ionize efficiently for a wide range of compounds. For example, electrospray ionization (ESI) and nano-ESI have been widely using for bio-molecules. Nano-ESI has shown better resolution than ESI but it has clogging problem. To overcome such a problem, several attempts have been taken to develop new ionization source, for example, MALDI, DESI, probe-ESI (PESI) etc. Recently, we have developed new atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) using alternating current (ac) instead of dc and found as a soft ionization source. Moreover, hollow cathode discharge (HCD) ionization source has been fabricated for detection of explosives at trace level. A desorption method has also been developed using an ultra-cutter to desorb highly non-volatile illicit compounds and ionized dielectric discharge (DBD) ionization source and found better limit of detection (LOD). A vacuum glow discharge ionization (vacuum-GDI) source has been fabricated for compounds those give negative ions. A further attempt has also been taken to fabricate a hybrid ionization source with DBD/ESI for polar/non-polar, volatile/non-volatile compounds.

Biography

Email: habib@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp