Proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) is a very sensitive technique for online monitoring of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in ambient air developed by scientists at the Institut für Ionenphysik at the Leopold-Franzens University in Innsbruck, Austria. A PTR-MS instrument consists of an ion source that is directly connected to a drift tube (in contrast to SIFT-MS no mass filter is interconnected) and an analyzing system (quadrupole mass analyzer or time-of-flight mass spectrometer). Commercially available PTR-MS instruments have a response time of about 100 ms and reach a detection limit in the single digit pptv region. Established fields of application are environmental research, food and flavour science, biological research, medicine, etc.
Read more about Proton-transfer-reaction Mass Spectrometry: Theory, Technology, Applications
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“There are no fixtures in nature. The universe is fluid and volatile. Permanence is but a word of degrees. Our globe seen by God is a transparent law, not a mass of facts. The law dissolves the fact and holds it fluid.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)