Ionisation of non-vaporisable analyte molecules at atmospheric pressure by chemical ionisation

摘要

The analyte ionisation involves desorbing the analyte substances, which are mixed with decomposable substances i.e. matrix substances in solid form on a solid support (7), into a gas stream, via irradiation by a laser (21) at atmospheric pressure, and adding sufficient ions from a source (1-4) to chemically ionise the substance. The decomposable matrix substance is pref. an explosive e.g. cellulosics tri-nitrate or trinitrotoluene (TNT). The ionised substance is then passed through a capillary (11) and ion guide (16) to a mass spectrometer (19,20).