Charles N. McEwen

Novel ionization processes provide gas-phase ions of a wide variety of materials using MS. These simple and sensitive methods operate from solution or a solid matrix. Both manual and automated platforms are described that allow rapid switching between the ionization methods of MAI, SAI, vSAI, and conventional ESI.

A newly discovered method, matrix-assisted ionization (MAI), is described for generating gas-phase ions from volatile and nonvolatile compounds. The method is both simple and sensitive.

Experiments presented here demonstrate the suitability of LC–SAI-MS for the detection and quantification of pharmaceuticals, with limits of detection in the low parts-per-trillion range. A comparison of LC–ESI-MS to LC–SAI-MS also yielded favorable results for SAI.

An important attribute of a novel ionization process for use in mass spectrometry (MS) is its simplicity and flexibility to be hyphenated to conventional liquid-based separation methods.