Ambient desorption/ionization mass spectrometry for direct solid material analysis

This paper reviews the application of ambient desorption/ionization (ADI) mass spectrometry (MS) to the direct analysis of solid materials. First, ADI methods are introduced according to the sampling and desorption processes, including liquid extraction, plasma desorption, thermal desorption, and laser ablation/desorption, along with their practical features and limitations in the direct analysis of solid objects. Various cases of real-world analysis are also summarized: analysis of active compounds in pharmaceuticals and herbal medicines; analysis of food products for quality control and origin tracking; forensic analysis for sexual assault crimes, explosives, and illicit drug abuse; and surface contaminant analysis for food and environmental safety control. An overview of relevant discussions shows that ADI-MS techniques allow the direct desorption and ionization of analytes from untreated samples under ambient conditions, resulting in tremendous improvements in efficiency in speed and procedural simplicity.