Ambient ionisation mass spectrometry for drug and toxin analysis: a review of the recent literature
Ambient ionisation mass spectrometry (AIMS) is a form of mass spectrometry whereby analyte ionisation occurs outside of a vacuum source under ambient conditions. This enables the direct analysis of samples in their native state, with little or no sample preparation and without chromatographic separation. The removal of these steps facilitates a much faster analytical process, enabling the direct analysis of samples within minutes if not seconds. Consequently, AIMS has gained rapid popularity across a diverse range of applications, in particular the analysis of drugs and toxins. Numerous fields rely upon mass spectrometry for the detection and identification of drugs, including clinical diagnostics, forensic chemistry, and food safety. However, all of these fields are hindered by the time‐consuming and laboratory‐confined nature of traditional techniques. As such, the potential for AIMS to resolve these challenges has resulted in a growing interest in ambient ionisation for drug and toxin analysis. Since the early 2000s, forensic science, diagnostic testing, anti‐doping, pharmaceuticals, environmental analysis and food safety have all seen a marked increase in AIMS applications, foreshadowing a new future for drug testing. In this review, some of the most promising AIMS techniques for drug analysis will be discussed, alongside different applications of AIMS published over a 5‐year period, to provide a summary of the recent research activity for ambient ionisation for drug and toxin analysis.
History
School
- Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
Drug Testing and AnalysisPublisher
John Wiley & Sons LtdVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Rights holder
© The AuthorsPublisher statement
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Acceptance date
2023-12-28Publication date
2024-02-07Copyright date
2024ISSN
1942-7603eISSN
1942-7611Publisher version
Language
- en