Probe Electrospray Ionization (PESI) and Its Modified Versions: Dipping PESI (dPESI), Sheath-Flow PESI (sfPESI) and Adjustable sfPESI (ad-sfPESI).

In 2007, probe electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (PESI/MS) was developed. In this technique, the needle is moved down along a vertical axis and the tip of the needle touched to the sample. After capturing the sample at the needle tip, the needle is then moved up and a high voltage is applied to the needle at the highest position to generate electrospray. Due to the discontinuous sampling followed by the generation of spontaneous electrospray, sequential and exhaustive electrospray takes place depending on the surface activity of the analytes. As modified versions of PESI, dipping PESI (dPESI), sheath-flow PESI (sfPESI) and adjustable sfPESI (ad-sfPESI) have been developed. These methods are complementary to each other and they can be applicable to surface and bulk analysis of various biological samples. In this article, the characteristics of these methods and their applications to real samples will be reviewed.

Flash desorption of low-volatility compounds deposited on a heated solid substrate (90°C) by dripping liquid methanol.

RATIONALE: Desorption of low-volatility compounds deposited on a solid substrate by dripping a methanol drop was explored. METHODS: Low-volatility compounds such as drugs and explosives were deposited/dried on the substrate at 35°C. After increasing the temperature to 90°C, 5 µL methanol was dripped onto the substrate. The desorbed analytes were ionized by alternating current corona discharge and analyzed by mass spectrometry. RESULTS: Flash desorption for drugs and explosives was observed accompanied by the rapid evaporation of methanol. However, saccharides, fullerene, cholesterol, and gramicidin S were not detected by the present method. CONCLUSIONS: It was suggested that surface-active compounds were desorbed at the peripheral front region of the spreading liquid methanol accompanied by rapid evaporation of methanol.

Robotic sheath-flow probe electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (sfPESI/MS): development of a touch sensor for samples in a multiwell plastic plate.

In the previous work, sheath-flow probe electrospray ionization (sfPESI) equipped with a touch sensor was developed for conducting samples. In this work, a capacitiance-sensitive touch sensor that can be applicable to samples prepared in a nonconducting plastic multiwell plate was developed. The radiofrequency with 5 kHz and 4.5 Vpp was applied to the metal substrate on which the plastic plate was placed. The probe tip stopped at the position where it touched the surface of the liquid solution prepared in the plastic multiwell plate by detecting the displacement current flowing through the capacitance of the circuit. By coupling a nondisposable sfPESI probe with a table-top 3-axis robot, consecutive analysis of peptides, proteins, drugs, and real samples was performed. The carry-over by the consecutive analyses was suppressed to minimal by cleansing the probe tip using the solvent of water/methanol/acetonitrile (1/1/1).

Electrospray Generated from the Tip-Sealed Fine Glass Capillary Inserted with an Acupuncture Needle Electrode.

In electrospray, excess charges are supplied to a sample solution by the occurrence of electrochemical reactions. Recently, different versions of electrospray, e.g., dielectric barrier electrospray ionization, inductive desorption electrospray ionization, and electrostatic-ionization driven by dielectric polarization, have been reported in which the sample solution was not in direct contact with the metal electrode but separated by dielectric materials. The objective of the current work is to elucidate the mechanism of dielectric barrier electrospray. A sealed borosilicate glass capillary inserted with a fine acupuncture needle was used as a probe. A sample solution (~ 400 nL) was captured on the glass capillary tip and a positive high voltage (HV) pulse (+ 4.5 kV) was applied to the internal metal electrode. Mass spectra were measured as a function of the HV pulse width from µs to 10 s. Ions started to be detected with the pulse width of ~ 5 ms. The ion intensities increased slowly with time and reached a plateau in a few seconds. The charge distribution of cytochrome c [M + nH]n+ shifted to higher n values from a few ms to seconds. In addition to cone-jet mode normal electrospray that lasted until all the liquid sample was depleted from the glass tip, the polarization-induced electrospray ionization was observed at the early stage of the HV application. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

Dipping probe electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry for direct on-site and low-invasive food analysis.

Rapid, direct, on-site and noninvasive food analysis is strongly needed for quality control of food. To satisfy this demand, the technique of dipping probe electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (dPESI/MS) was developed. The sample surface was pricked with a fine acupuncture needle and a sample of ∼200 pL was captured at the needle tip. After drying the sample, the needle tip was dipped into the solvent for ∼50 ms and was moved upward. A high-voltage was applied to the needle to generate electrospray when the needle reached the highest position, and mass spectra were measured with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. For evaluation of the method, the technique was used to analyze foods such as vegetables, salmon flesh, cow's milk, yogurt, and soy-bean milk. The detected major ions for cow's milk and yogurt were [(Lac)n + Ca]2+ with n = 1-6 (where (Lac) is lactose), indicating that Ca2+ is tightly bound by Lac molecules.

Remote sampling mass spectrometry for dry samples: Sheath-flow probe electrospray ionization (PESI) using a gel-loading tip inserted with an acupuncture needle.

RATIONALE: Probe electrospray ionization (PESI) is only applicable to liquid or wet samples. In this study, a sheath-flow PESI method for remote sampling mass spectrometry that can be applied to dry samples was developed. METHODS: An acupuncture needle (0.12 mm outer diameter, 700 nm tip diameter) was inserted into a gel-loading tip with a 0.1 mm protrusion out of the tip. Analytes were extracted by filling the latter tip with solvent and softly touching the sample surface for a short time (<1 s). A high voltage was applied to the acupuncture needle, and mass spectra of analytes were obtained by self-aspirating electrospray. RESULTS: Dry samples, such as lines of ballpoint pen ink on paper, pharmaceutical tablets, instant coffee, brown rice, and narcotics, gave strong ion signals. The sample carryover was negligible. The sequential electrospray was observed to be similar to conventional PESI. The limits of detection (LODs) for morphine and rhodamine B were found to be of the order of picograms. CONCLUSIONS: Because of its simplicity and versatility, sheath-flow PESI is a promising technique for on-site and nondestructive profile analysis of dry samples with bulky and complicated shapes, with a spatial resolution of ~0.3 mm.

Non-proximate mass spectrometry using a heated 1-m long PTFE tube and an air-tight APCI ion source.

Direct and rapid trace-level gas analysis is highly needed in various fields such as safety and security, quality control, food analysis, and forensic medicine. In many cases, the real samples are bulky and are not accessible to the space-limited ion source of the mass spectrometer. In order to circumvent this problem, we developed an airtight atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization (APCI) ion source equipped with a flexible 1-m-long, 2-mm-i.d. PTFE sniffing tube. The ambient air bearing sample gas was sucked into the heated PTFE tube (130 °C) and was transported to the air-tight ion source without using any extra pumping system or a Venturi device. Analytes were ionized by an ac corona discharge located at 1.5 mm from the inlet of the mass spectrometer. By using the airtight ion source, all the ionized gas in the ion source was introduced into the vacuum of the mass spectrometer via only the evacuation of the mass spectrometer (1.6 l min-1). Sub-pg limits of detection were obtained for carbaryl and trinitrotoluene. Owing to its flexibility and high sensitivity, the sniffing tube coupled with a mass spectrometer can be used as the stethoscope for the high-sensitive gas analysis. The experimental results obtained for drugs, hydrogen peroxide and small alkanes were discussed by DFT calculations.

Mass spectrometric monitoring of oxidation of aliphatic C6-C8 hydrocarbons and ethanol in low pressure oxygen and air plasmas.

Experimental and theoretical studies on the oxidation of saturated hydrocarbons (n-hexane, cyclohexane, n-heptane, n-octane and isooctane) and ethanol in 28 Torr O2 or air plasma generated by a hollow cathode discharge ion source were made. Ions corresponding to [M + 15]+ and [M + 13]+ in addition to [M - H]+ and [M - 3H]+ were detected as major ions where M is the sample molecule. The ions [M + 15]+ and [M + 13]+ were assigned as oxidation products, [M - H + O]+ and [M - 3H + O]+ , respectively. By the tandem mass spectrometry analysis of [M - H + O]+ and [M - 3H + O]+ , H2 O, olefins (and/or cycloalkanes) and oxygen-containing compounds were eliminated from these ions. Ozone as one of the terminal products in the O2 plasma was postulated as the oxidizing reagent. As an example, the reactions of C6 H14+• with O2 and of C6 H13+ (CH3 CH2 CH+ CH2 CH2 CH3 ) with ozone were examined by density functional theory calculations. Nucleophilic interaction of ozone with C6 H13+ leads to the formation of protonated ketone, CH3 CH2 C(=OH+ )CH2 CH2 CH3 . In air plasma, [M - H + O]+ became predominant over carbocations, [M - H]+ and [M - 3H]+ . For ethanol, the protonated acetic acid CH3 C(OH)2+ (m/z 61.03) was formed as the oxidation product. The peaks at m/z 75.04 and 75.08 are assigned as protonated ethyl formate and protonated diethyl ether, respectively, and that at m/z 89.06 as protonated ethyl acetate. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Discontinuous atmospheric pressure interface for mass spectrometry using a solenoid pulse valve.

RATIONALE: For the development of on-site mass spectrometry for security and safety, point-of-care analysis, etc., the gas volume introduced into the vacuum should be reduced to a minimum. To cope with this demand, a discontinuous atmospheric pressure interface using a solenoid pulse valve was developed. METHODS: The sample gas was introduced discontinuously into the ionization cell with a volume of 0.17 cm(3) . The sampled gas in the cell was ionized by an alternating current (ac) corona discharge. The generated ions were sampled through a 0.25 mm i.d. and 12 mm long nickel capillary into the vacuum of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. RESULTS: A gas flow rate of ~25 mL/min was achieved with the 1 Hz pulse valve operation and 20 ms valve opening time. Sub-ng limits of detection for less volatile compounds such as explosives and drugs were obtained. CONCLUSIONS: Due to its compact size and low gas load to the vacuum, this new interface may be useful for applications in miniaturized mass spectrometry. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Nitrogen incorporation in saturated aliphatic C6-C8 hydrocarbons and ethanol in low-pressure nitrogen plasma generated by a hollow cathode discharge ion source.

Ion/molecule reactions of saturated hydrocarbons (n-hexane, cyclohexane, n-heptane, n-octane and isooctane) in 28-Torr N2 plasma generated by a hollow cathode discharge ion source were investigated using an Orbitrap mass spectrometer. It was found that the ions with [M+14](+) were observed as the major ions (M: sample molecule). The exact mass analysis revealed that the ions are nitrogenated molecules, [M+N](+) formed by the reactions of N3 (+) with M. The reaction, N3 (+) + M → [M+N](+) + N2 , were examined by the density functional theory calculations. It was found that N3 (+) abstracts the H atom from hydrocarbon molecules leading to the formation of protonated imines in the forms of R'R″CNH2 (+) (i.e. C-H bond nitrogenation). This result is in accord with the fact that elimination of NH3 is the major channel for MS/MS of [M+N](+) . That is, nitrogen is incorporated in the C-H bonds of saturated hydrocarbons. No nitrogenation was observed for benzene and acetone, which was ascribed to the formation of stable charge-transfer complexes benzene⋅⋅⋅⋅N3 (+) and acetone⋅⋅⋅⋅N3 (+) revealed by density functional theory calculations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Low-pressure barrier discharge ion source using air as a carrier gas and its application to the analysis of drugs and explosives.

In this work, a low-pressure air dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD) ion source using a capillary with the inner diameter of 0.115 and 12 mm long applicable to miniaturized mass spectrometers was developed. The analytes, trinitrotoluene (TNT), 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX), 1,3,5,7-tetranitroperhydro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX), pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), nitroglycerine (NG), hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD), caffeine, cocaine and morphine, introduced through the capillary, were ionized by a low-pressure air DBD. The ion source pressures were changed by using various sizes of the ion sampling orifice. The signal intensities of those analytes showed marked pressure dependence. TNT was detected with higher sensitivity at lower pressure but vice versa for other analytes. For all analytes, a marked signal enhancement was observed when a grounded cylindrical mesh electrode was installed in the DBD ion source. Among nine analytes, RDX, HMX, NG and PETN could be detected as cluster ions [analyte + NO3 ](-) even at low pressure and high temperature up to 180 °C. The detection indicates that these cluster ions are stable enough to survive under present experimental conditions. The unexpectedly high stabilities of these cluster ions were verified by density functional theory calculation.

Probe electrospray ionization (PESI) mass spectrometry with discontinuous atmospheric pressure interface (DAPI).

Probe electrospray ionization (PESI) using a 0.2 mm outside diameter titanium wire was performed and the generated ions were introduced into the mass spectrometer via a discontinuous atmospheric pressure interface using a pinch valve. Time-lapse PESI mass spectra were acquired by gradually increasing delay time for the pinch valve opening with respect to the start of each electrospray event when a high voltage was applied. The opening time of the pinch valve was 20 ms. Time-resolved PESI mass spectra showed marked differences for 10 mM NaCl, 10(-5) M gramicidin S and insulin in H(2)O/CH(3)OH/CH(3)COOH/CH(3)COONH(4) (65/35/1) with and without the addition of 10 mM CH(3)COONH(4). This was ascribed to the pH change of the liquid attached to the needle caused by electrochemical reactions taking place at the interface between the metal probe and the solution. NaCl cluster ions appeared only after the depletion of analytes. For the mixed solution of 10(-5) M cytochrome c, insulin, and gramicidin S in H(2)O/CH(3)OH/CH(3)COOH (65/35/1), a sequential appearance of analyte ions in the order of cytochrome c→insulin→gramicidin S was observed. The present technique was applied to three narcotic samples; methamphetamine, morphine and codeine. Limits of detection for these compounds were 10 ppb in H(2)O/CH(3)OH (1/1) for the single sampling with a pinch valve opening time of 200 ms.

Detection of explosives using a hollow cathode discharge ion source.

RATIONALE: For public security and safety, it is highly desirable to develop an ion source for the detection of explosives that is highly sensitive, compact in size, robust, and does not use any special carrier gases such as helium. In this work, a hollow cathode discharge (HCD) ion source was developed for the detection of explosives using ambient air as a carrier gas. METHODS: To detect nonvolatile and thermally unstable explosives with high sensitivities, a new HCD ion source was designed and coupled with an ion trap mass spectrometer. RESULTS: Five explosives--hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD), 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX), pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), nitroglycerin (NG) and trinitrotoluene (TNT)--were detected with limits of detection of lower than ng. The intensities of the NO3(-) adduct ions with RDX, PETN, and NG showed a marked increase with increase in ion source pressure in the range of 1-28 Torr. CONCLUSIONS: Because the major NOx(-) ions (x = 2, 3) produced in the plasma act as reagent ions in ion-molecule reactions of explosives, air is best suited as a carrier gas for the detection of explosives. It is proposed that the NOx(-) (x = 2, 3) and O3 contributed to the formation of [TNT-H](-) and [TNT-NO](-) ions, via the reactions NOx(-) + TNT → [TNT-H](-) + HNOx and [TNT](-) + O3 → [TNT-NO](-) + NO2 + O2.

Desorption mass spectrometry for nonvolatile compounds using an ultrasonic cutter.

In this work, desorption of nonvolatile analytes induced by friction was studied. The nonvolatile compounds deposited on the perfluoroalkoxy substrate were gently touched by an ultrasonic cutter oscillating with a frequency of 40 kHz. The desorbed molecules were ionized by a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) ion source. Efficient desorption of samples such as drugs, pharmaceuticals, amino acids, and explosives was observed. The limits of detection for these compounds were about 1 ng. Many compounds were detected in their protonated forms without undergoing significant fragmentation. When the DBD was off, no ions for the neutral samples could be detected, meaning that only desorption along with little ionization took place by the present technique.

Flash desorption/mass spectrometry for the analysis of less- and nonvolatile samples using a linearly driven heated metal filament.

In this paper, the important issue of the desorption of less- and nonvolatile compounds with minimal sample decomposition in ambient mass spectrometry is approached using ambient flash desorption mass spectrometry. The preheated stainless steel filament was driven down and up along the vertical axis in 0.3 s. At the lowest position, it touched the surface of the sample with an invasion depth of 0.1 mm in 50 ms (flash heating) and was removed from the surface (fast cooling). The heating rate corresponds to ~10(4) °C/s at the filament temperature of 500 °C. The desorbed gaseous molecules were ionized by using a dielectric barrier discharge ion source, and the produced ions were detected by a time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer. Less-volatile samples, such as pharmaceutical tablets, narcotics, explosives, and C60 gave molecular and protonated molecule ions as major ions with thermal decomposition minimally suppressed. For synthetic polymers (PMMA, PLA, and PS), the mass spectra reflected their backbone structures because of the suppression of the sequential thermal decompositions of the primary products. The present technique appears to be suitable for high-throughput qualitative analyses of many types of solid samples in the range from a few ng to 10 µg with minimal sample consumption. Some contribution from tribodesorption in addition to thermal desorption was suggested for the desorption processes. Figure ᅟ