A tandem ion mobility instrument based on differential mobility spectrometry (DMS) was used to demonstrate selectivity in response through differences in field dependence of mobility for ions in purified air at ambient pressure. The concept of chemical selectivity solely from characteristic dispersion curves or from field dependence of ion mobility was experimentally demonstrated in three steps...

Gas phase reactions between hydrated protons H+(H2O)n and a substance M, as seen in atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) with mass spectrometry (MS) ion mobility (IMS), were modeled computationally using initial amounts of [M] [H+(H2O)n], rate constants k1 to form protonated monomer (MH+(H2O)x) k2 proton bound dimer (M2H+(H2O)z), diffusion constants. At 1 × 1010 cm–3 (0.4 ppb) for [H...

We present a novel NMR-based study of the molecular aspects of the "attack" on human red blood cells (RBCs) by growing bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus expresses virulence factors, including alpha-hemolysin, which contribute to the clinical condition known as septic shock. alpha-Hemolysin is a pore-forming toxin and its secretion increases the permeability of a range of mammalian cell types infe...

Limits of detection (LODs) in ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) strictly depend on ionization of the analyte. Especially challenging is ionization of compounds with relatively low proton affinity (PA) such as aromatic compounds. To change the course of ion-molecule reactions and enhance the performance of the IMS spectrometer, substances called dopants are introduced into the carrier gas. In this...

Protection of public and military personnel from chemical and biological warfareagents is an urgent and growing national security need. Along with this idea, we havedeveloped a novel class of fiber optic chemical sensors, for detection of toxic and biologicalmaterials. The design of these fiber optic sensors is based on a cladding modificationapproach. The original passive cladding of the fiber...

Active capillary dielectric barrier discharge ionization (DBDI) is emerging as a compact, low-cost, and robust method to form intact ions of small molecules for detection in near real time by portable mass spectrometers. Here, we demonstrate that by using a 10 kHz, ~2.5 kVp-p high-voltage square-wave alternating current plasma, active capillary DBDI can consume less than 1 μW of power. In contr...