On-line Detection of Human Skin Vapors

P. M-L Sinues, J. F. de la Mora

Evaluation of extractive electrospray ionization and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization for the detection of narcotics in breath.png

Abstract: Vapors released by the skin in the hand of one human subject are detected in real time by sampling them directly from the ambient gas surrounding the hand, ionizing them by secondary electrospray ionization (SESI, via contact with the charged cloud from an electrospray source), and analyzing them in a mass spectrometer with an atmospheric pressure source (API-MS).

This gas-phase approach is complementary to alternative on-line surface ionization methods such as DESI and DART. A dominating peak of lactic acid and a complete series of saturated and singly unsaturated fatty acids (C12 to C18) are observed, in accordance with previous off-line studies by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Several other metabolites have been identified, including ketomonocarboxylic and hydroxymonocarboxylic acids.

View on original journal

Previous
Previous

Mass spectrometric study of cutaneous volatiles by secondary electrospray Ionization

Next
Next

Secondary Electrospray Ionization (SESI) of Ambient Vapors for Explosive Detection at Concentrations Below Parts Per Trillion