Dataset of volatile organic compound emission patterns from flowers and damaged leaves recorded with gas-chromatography coupled ion mobility spectrometry.

Plants emit a range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as a way of interacting with their biotic and abiotic surroundings. These VOCs can have various ecological functions, such as attracting pollinators, repelling herbivores, or may be emitted in response to abiotic stress. For the present dataset, we used gas chromatography coupled ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) to analyse the VOCs emitted by different plant species under controlled conditions.

Evaluation of floral volatile patterns in the genus using gas chromatography-coupled ion mobility spectrometry.

Premise: Daffodils (, Amaryllidaceae) are iconic ornamentals with a complex floral biology and many fragrant species; however, little is known about floral plant volatile organic compounds (pVOCs) across the genus and additional sampling is desirable. The present study investigates whether the floral scent of 20 species of can be characterized using gas chromatographycoupled ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS), with the aim of building a comparative pVOC data set for ecological and evolutionary studies.

Methods: We used a commercial GC-IMS equipped with an integrated in-line enrichment system for a fast, sensitive, and automated pVOC analysis.

Detection of axillary perspiration metabolites using ion mobility spectrometry coupled to rapid gas chromatography.

The composition of human sweat-and as a consequence the composition of volatiles released from human skin-strongly depends on genetic preconditions, diet, stress, personal hygiene but also on health status and medication. Accordingly, the composition is a carrier of information on the physical and mental states of a person. Therefore, rapid on-site analysis of the relevant substances may be used for medical diagnosis and medication control or even for psychological characterisation.

GC-IMS headspace analyses allow early recognition of bacterial growth and rapid pathogen differentiation in standard blood cultures.

Outcome of patients with blood stream infections (BSI) depends on the rapid initiation of adequate antibiotic therapy, which relies on the fast and reliable identification of the underlying pathogen. Blood cultures (BC) using CO-sensitive colorimetric indicators and subsequent microbiological culturing are the diagnostic gold standard but turnaround times range between 24 and 48 h. The detection of volatile organic compounds of microbial origin (mVOC) has been described as a feasible method for identifying microbial growth and to differentiate between several microbial species.

Hyphenation of a MEMS based pre-concentrator and GC-IMS.

A micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) based pre-concentrator filled with a standard Tenax TA adsorbent as well as with a synthetic receptor designed to adsorb 3-hydroxy-3-methylhexanoic acid (3H3MHA), a particular metabolite only available from human beings, was adapted to a custom made ion mobility spectrometer with gas-chromatographic pre-separation (GC-IMS). This combination was compared to a traditional sample loop GC-IMS. The application of a pre-concentrator is highly beneficial for the GC-IMS as analysing technique.

On the potential of ion mobility spectrometry coupled to GC pre-separation - A tutorial.

In this tutorial, we want to demonstrate the significant potential of ion mobility spectrometry (IMS), an analytical technique for identification and quantification of gas-phase compounds, in particular combined to other useful analytical tools. Coupled to gas-chromatographic pre-separation (GC-IMS), selectivity can be improved significantly, thus enabling the analysis of complex, humid mixtures. In-line pre-concentration can improve sensitivity down to the ppq range.

Coupling laser desorption with gas chromatography and ion mobility spectrometry for improved olive oil characterisation.

The investigation of volatile compounds in the headspace of liquid samples can often be used for detailed and non-destructive characterisation of the sample. This has great potential for process control or the characterisation of food samples, such as olive oil. We investigated, for the first time, the plume of substances released from olive oil droplets by laser desorption in a feasibility study and applied ion mobility spectrometry coupled to rapid GC pre-separation to enhance selectivity.

Tuning Soft Ionization Strength for Organic Mass Spectrometry.

Besides the progress of new mass spectrometer technologies, the investigation and development of soft ionization sources play an important key role for analytical sciences. Since the dielectric barrier discharge ionization (DBDI) is identified as two temporally separated events, a selective prevention of the coincident plasma can lead to improved ionization strength. Although a DBDI is known as a soft ionization source, a modulation of the high-voltage amplitude and duty cycle can lead to optimized ionization strength.

Medium Vacuum Electron Emitter as Soft Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization Source for Organic Molecules.

An electron emitter as a soft atmospheric pressure chemical ionization source is presented, which operates at inner pressures of the device in the medium vacuum range (>10(-3) hPa). Conventional nonradioactive electron emitters require high vacuum (<10(-6) hPa) to prevent electrical sparkovers. The emitter presented here contains structural modifications of an existing setup, which inhibits electrical breakdowns up to 10(-2) hPa at 8 kV acceleration voltage.

Dielectric Barrier Discharge Ionization of Perfluorinated Compounds.

The soft ionization ability based on plasma-jet protonation of molecules initiated by a dielectric barrier discharge ionization source (DBDI) is certainly an interesting application for analytical chemistry. Since the change of an applied sinusoidal voltage may lead to different discharge modes the applied discharge was powered by a square wave generator in order to get a homogeneous plasma. It is known that besides the protonation [M+H](+) of unpolar as well as some polar molecules the homogeneous DBDI can be used to ionize molecules directly [M](+).