Towards smaller and faster gas chromatography–mass spectrometry systems for field chemical detection

Use of a hand-portable gas chromatograph–toroidal ion trap mass spectrometer for self-chemical ionization identification of degradation products related to O-ethyl S-(2-diisopropylaminoethyl) methyl phosphonothiolate (VX)

“…When analyzed using a stationary phase analogous to that used in this work along with a homologous series of n-hydrocarbon reference standards, D'Agostino et al [4] calculated the retention index value for this compound following Van den Dool and Kratz [16] to be 2057.9, meaning that it typically elutes about midway between n-C 20 and n-C 21 . An LTM GC heating module similar to that used here has been used as the inlet for several mass spectrometers which are less transportable than the TMS system [17]. In the cited work, rapid GC column heating allowed for analysis of compounds ranging in molecular weight from 140 (the chemical warfare agent sarin) to 466 u (T-2 toxin) by GC-MS in less than 4 min.…”

On-Site Detection of Chemical Warfare Agents

“…The new type of the same instrument Hapsite ER, adopting Tri-Bed TA microconcentration, provides more excellent determination against ten CWAs ( Figure 60.5). Torion (American Fork, Utah) produces a fieldportable GC-toroidal ion-trap MS with a solid-phase microextraction sampling inlet for CWA and related compound determination in water samples (Smith et al, 2005(Smith et al, , 2011bContreras et al, 2008;Torion Technologies Inc., 2014).…”

Induced plant volatiles allow sensitive monitoring of plant health status in greenhouses

“…Such a combination of a gas-chromatographic system equipped with a pre-concentration unit and e-nose was successfully applied to detect plant emitted volatiles in a small cuvette. 31 However, the reported limits of detection for this instrument, see 36 are several orders of magnitude less than required for the in 28 predicted concentrations of B. cinerea-induced volatiles in a large-scale greenhouse. 27,35 More recently, biosensors have been developed to identify and quantify low levels of volatiles in ambient air.…”

“…25 Analytical instruments based on GC-MS and GC-FID with a precision of 10% relative standard deviation and a detection limit of 1 nmol m -3 were used as a reference. These type of instruments are routinely used to detect air contaminants in field settings 28,29 and to monitor biogas tower reactors for the presence of potentially toxic volatiles. 30 Besides GC-MS and GC-FID, electronic noses (e-noses) are also widely used to detect plant-emitted volatiles in air.…”