DESI challenges standard mass spec.(Analytical Instruments)(Brief Article)

Performing mass spectrometry in air is a concept that serves as the foundation for a newly christened technique devised by a research group at Purdue University's, West Lafayette, Ind., Aston Laboratory. Headed by Zoltan Takats and Graham Cooks, DESI, or desorption electrospray ionization, enlists a wand like attachment, joined to a standard MS platform, to ionize and collect sample molecules, all in ambient conditions. in this case, the DESI wand projects a spray of high-velocity gas (with embedded reactive agents) which is used to knock off ions from a target sample's surface, effectively using, for the first time, the electrospray source as a means to dislodge and ionize target molecules. The jettisoned ions are then collected for analysis via a hose to the MS...

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