Research And Application Of Induced Paper Spray Mass Spectrometry

Mass spectrometry(MS)is a rapidly developing analytical method in the analytical filed because of its fast analysis speed,good selectivity,high sensitivity and low detection limit.MS is widely used in life sciences,environmental safety,food safety,drug discovery,disease diagnosis,etc.MS is mostly devoted to the detection of complex samples.However,conventionalion source technologies must perform sample pretreatment when analyzing complex samples.In order to achieve in-situ,real-time,on-line,and non-destructive testing of complex samples using MS,researchers have developed a series of new ion source methods that are simple,fast,and require little or no sample preparation.Among them,paper spray(PS)can not only be used as an ion source,but also can carry and transport samples without pneumatic assistance or laser-assisted systems.It is one of the most commonly used ion sources in the field of MS.However,due to the direct contact of the electrode with the sample in the traditional PS,the use of PS in high-throughput MS analysis is limited.In order to solve these above problems,we need to develop new methods to simplify the traditional PS and expand the application of PS in high-throughput MS analysis.The project is aimed at developing the induced paper spray(induced PS),which is based on induced nanoelectrospray ionization(induced nanoESI)and traditional PS.The core of the technology is the use of an induced voltage to PS that avoids physical contact between the paper and the electrode,making it more conducive to high-throughput MS analysis.Compared with traditional high-throughput PS-MS analysis,it is not necessary to pre-prepare electrodes on the mobile platform before the experiment.In the experiment,the paper array is not limited by the position of the electrodes,and there is no need to repeatedly wash the electrodes after the experiment.Therefore,the study can expand the application of induced PS in high-throughput MS analysis.The main contents of the article include:(1)Development of inducted PS-MS platform using the induced voltage.Induced PS is based on the principles of conventional PS and induced nanoESI,which uses an induced voltage for wet paper substrates and produces charged droplets at the tip of the paper.The steps for the construction of the induced PS analysis platform are as follows:First,a high voltage AC power supply is used to provide the induced voltage of the induced PS;secondly,the induced PS ion source is used for the ionization of the analyte;finally,the detection is performed by induced PS-MS.It is demonstrated the feasibility of the induced voltage on the PS because the drug molecules in the blood could be detected by using induced PS-MS.(2)Explore the mechanism of induced PS through comparing the degree of ion suppression of the traditional PS with the induced PS.For the newly developed induced PS ion source,we explored its mechanism.We compared the extent of ion suppression in induced PS with traditional PS by using a mixed system of different analytes,and further evaluated the ion suppression of both by the detection of drug molecules in actual samples(blood,urine and serum).The experimental results showed that compared with the traditional PS,the induced PS had a weak ion suppression effect.We speculate that the result is because the high-voltage power source generates an alternating electric field in the induced PS,different ions have different electromigration,the analyte and interferents will be instantaneously separated,thereby reducing ion suppression effect in complex samples.(3)Use induced PS to establish a high-throughput MS analysis platform.This section mainly describes how to use the induced PS ion source to establish a simple and fast high-throughput MS method.First,we used the induced voltage to build a high-throughput induced PS-MS analysis platform.Second,we used the platform to rapidly screen drug molecules and demonstrate the analysis time of 2.6 s/sample.Finally,we evaluated the reproducibility of the high-throughput induced PS-MS analysis platform to achieve rapid quantification of drugs in complex matrices.In addition,we have established a reaction-high-throughput induced PS-MS analysis method that enables rapid screening of chemical reactions.