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GC/IMS and GC/MS analysis of pre-concentrated medical and biological samples

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International Journal for Ion Mobility Spectrometry

Abstract

Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) is a well-known analytical method for the detection of CWAs and explosives since many years. Coupling IMS to GC pre-separation, new application fields in medicine and biology could be opened, dealing with complex and humid mixtures. However, identification of unknowns in such a complex sample is challenging and can only be achieved by parallel GC/MS analysis, thus obtaining a proposal for the responsible compound for validation via reference substances by GC/IMS again. The available adsorption tools for such accompanying GC/MS analysis have their particular drawbacks (e.g. problematic quantification for SPME, high sample volumes for adsorption tubes). Therefore miniaturised adsorption needles (NeedleTrap) were applied to both GC/IMS and GC/MS for validation of their reproducibility. It could be demonstrated that the needles can even be used for appropriate quantification when the adsorbent and the sample volume are adapted properly to the concentration range, the compounds of interest and humidity of the sample. The method is very flexible with regard to the concentration range by variation of the sample volume (e.g. 20 mL for pptV, 10 mL for lower ppbV or 1 mL for ppmV) and with regard to the compounds of interest by application of common adsorption materials optimised for the relevant substance group. Such materials are available commercially in a broad variability. Therefore, the miniaturised adsorption needles are a helpful complementary sampling method for any GC/MS or GC/IMS investigations.

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Acknowledgments

The financial support of the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung and the Ministerium für Innovation, Wissenschaft und Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen is greatfully acknowledged. Furthermore, the invaluable support of Rita Fobbe at GC/MS was indispensable for this study. This research was funded by the European Union as part of the project “Detection of olfactory traces by orthogonal gas identification technologies” (DOGGIES), a collaborative project (No. 285446) funded under call identifier FP7-SEC-20011-1, which is part of the Seventh Framework Program. In particular, Jean-Jacques Filippi from the Institut de Chimie de Nice, France gave substantial support with synthetic sweat compounds. Last but not least, the authors would like to express their gratitude to all the volunteers supporting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften - ISAS - e.V, Bunsen-Kirchhoff-Straße 11, 44139, Dortmund, Germany

    Wolfgang Vautz, Luzia Seifert & Sascha Liedtke

  2. PAS Technology Deutschland GmbH, Richard-Wagner-Straße 10, 99441, Magdala, Germany

    Dietmar Hein

Authors
  1. Wolfgang Vautz
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  2. Luzia Seifert
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  3. Sascha Liedtke
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  4. Dietmar Hein
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Correspondence to Wolfgang Vautz.

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Vautz, W., Seifert, L., Liedtke, S. et al. GC/IMS and GC/MS analysis of pre-concentrated medical and biological samples. Int. J. Ion Mobil. Spec. 17, 25–33 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12127-014-0146-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12127-014-0146-8

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