IONICON blog

A new review article in Trends in Analytical Chemistry discusses direct-injection mass spectrometry for VOC analysis.

F. Biasioli, C. Yeretzian, T. D. Märk, J. Dewulf and H. Van Langenhove wrote an interesting review with the title “Direct-injection mass spectrometry adds the time dimension to (B)VOC analysis” that was recently published in Trends in Analytical Chemistry 30 (7) (2011).

We at IONICON are often asked what actually the differences and in our case, the benefits of the PTR-MS technology compared to other, similar methods are. Not only a technical comparison is of interest but also feedback from studies in the field covering various applications is in high demand by people contacting us.

For me the advantages of PTR-MS are obvious and I also know which position our technology and products have in the market, but of course it is more credible if an article in a peer-reviewed journal has such a comparison as topic and gives the reader a chance to follow a well grounded debate.
The synopsis of this article with regards to PTR-MS and my conclusion, I would summarize as follows only mentioning the most intriguing arguments:

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Detection of Plant Volatiles after Leaf Wounding and Darkening by Proton Transfer Reaction ‘‘Time-of-Flight’’ Mass Spectrometry (PTR-TOF)

A new study published yesterday, where IONICON PTR-TOFMS was used to detect biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) induced by leaf wounding and darkening, shows the huge potential of PTR-MS for monitoring and quantification of  fast processes in our environment. Leaf wounding reactions where BVOCs are emitted occur very fast and therefore a method is necessary that can capture the BVOC profiles in seconds. A very high time resolution and sensitivity in combination with the high mass resolving power of a time of flight makes the PTR-TOFMS technology an ideal tool for such applications. PTR-MS can detect most of the common VOCs in real-time, in very low concentrations and without complicated sample preparation as our online mass spectrometers directly inject the sample gas and provide results without delay.

The study is an outcome of the Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnership and Pathways (IAPP) project 218065 ‘‘PTR-TOF’’ funded by theEuropean Commission within the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7 – People), where IONICON is one of the partners.

Get free access to this article:

F. Brilli, T. M. Ruuskanen, R. Schnitzhofer, M. Müller, M. Breitenlechner, V. Bittner, G. Wohlfahrt, F. Loreto, A. Hansel: Detection of Plant Volatiles after Leaf Wounding and Darkening by Proton Transfer Reaction ‘‘Time-of-Flight’’ Mass Spectrometry (PTR-TOF), PLoS ONE, 6(5) (2011), e20419.

Read the abstract:

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