Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry: a Powerful Tool for Fast Analysis

Abstract

Direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry (DART-MS) is one of the variants of ambient mass spectrometry. The ionization process of DART-MS is in open environment and only takes few seconds, so it is suitable for fast analysis. Actually, since its introduction in 2005, more and more attentions have been drawn to its various applications due to its excellent properties, e.g., fast analysis, and no or less sample preparation, high salt tolerance and so on. This review summarized the promising features of DART-MS, including its ionization mechanism, equipment modification, wide applications, coupling techniques and extraction strategies before analysis.

Nitrogen heterocycles form peptide nucleic acid precursors in complex prebiotic mixtures

“…The high mass resolution (>30,000 at m/z 400) and mass accuracy (typically <5 ppm) of the instrument permitted the assignment of molecular formulas, which enabled the recognition and identification of N-heterocycle adducts. DART was also selected for ionization because it readily protonates nitrogen-containing compounds, is less sensitive to matrix effects, does not usually produce salt adducts, and we found Penning ionization to be minimal, enabling us to rapidly analyze complex mixtures with minimal sample preparation 26 .…”

Recent development in mass spectrometry and its hyphenated techniques for the analysis of medicinal plants

“…The ambient ionisation technique is a set of MS ionisation methods, which allow for the direct analysis of samples under ambient and open‐air conditions with minimal or no sample pretreatment. In this way, sample extraction, sample preparation, and chromatographic separation is not necessary to some extent, which could facilitate the analysis of medicinal plants by reducing the time and cost . This technique allows the analytes in different states (liquid, gas, and solid) through variation of sample‐introduction methods.…”

“…High throughput is one of the most notable features for DART technology. The analysis time of each sample is generally less than 5 s, and 96 samples could be detected at a single run by automated dip‐it sampler . DART facilitates the analysis of volatile/semi‐volatile compounds and small molecules in samples with solid, liquid, and gas phases .…”

“…For instance, ambient ionisation‐MS frequently exhibits less sensitive and reproducible than ESI‐MS or APCI‐MS, which is due to the low ionisation efficiency, and strong background, as well as complicated parameters . Analyte quantitation is still quite challenging without the addition of proper internal standards . The spatial resolution of ambient ionisation‐MS imaging also needs to increase in situ analysis …”

Forensic Analysis of Stains on Fabric Using Direct Analysis in Real‐time Ionization with High‐Resolution Accurate Mass‐Mass Spectrometry

“…DART-MS has been utilized in a variety of forensic applications, including identification of controlled substances (4-7), identification of drugs and metabolites in human urine (8), plasma (9), and hair (10), explosives (11,12), arson accelerants (13), writing inks (14), and hazardous chemicals in textiles (15). The simplicity, quickness, and ease of use of DART-MS have generated a multitude of uses for this technique (16)(17)(18). DART-MS has been utilized to determine the presence of caffeine in beverages (19)(20)(21)(22) and in mixtures of psychoactive substances (23).…”