Mass Spectrometry

After nearly three decades and three spacecaft landings on the surface of Mars, we still do not know what the rocks are made of . . .

The CETAC LSX-500 Laser Ablation System is suitable for trace element microanalysis of virtually any solid sample. Here CETAC Technologies describes the use of the LSX-500 for elemental analysis of inks on paper. For more information, visit the company's website at www.cetac.com.

The process of structural identification is often dynamic, requiring multiple revisions of partial structures before arriving at the final structure. A process coupling the capabilities of mass spectrometry, NMR, and other techniques is described. For more information, contact the company's website at www.acdlabs.com.

Columnist David Ball explores Mössbauer spectroscopy.

Columnist David Ball explores Mössbauer spectroscopy.

This article discusses the principles of unilateral nuclear magnetic resonance with applications to elastomers and nondestructive in situ inspection of a wet fresco from ancient Rome.

An installment of the Mass Spectrometry forum column.

A "Technical Note" article.

This installment of the Tutorial series focuses on three important sampling approaches: electrothermal vaporization, desolvation systems, and chromatographic separation devices.

An installment of the Focus on Quality column.

Part 14 of the ongoing series.

This study investigates the applicability of a quadrupole-based ICP-MS fitted with a dynamic reaction cell (DRC) to analyze high-purity phosphoric and sulfuric acid used in the semiconductor industry. It compares the DRC approach with traditional ICP-MS background reduction techniques to compensate for phosphorus- and sulfur-based interferences and presents data that suggests that the DRC technology can reach the next generation of semiconductor purity levels for these chemicals.

There is far more matter than antimatter in our universe, but scientists don?t know enough about the properties of antimatter to understand why. By spectroscopically analyzing atoms created when antiprotons collide with helium, physicists at CERN are measuring the properties of antimatter with unprecedented accuracy.

An index of articles and authors appearing in Spectroscopy's 2002 issues.

A look at Walter Gerlach's life and work.

Part 13 of the ongoing series-within-a-series.

A look at how spectroscopy might help to solve the controversial puzzle of the Vinland Map, which purports to be a 15th-century map charting the Viking exploration of the New World.

The author discusses how gas chromatography?mass spectrometry will help to characterize the atmosphere and surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon.

Part 13 of the ongoing series.

Part 13 of the ongoing series discusses sampling accessories.

The authors discuss g-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), a drug of abuse that is not detected in the drug-detection mode or positive polarity of commercial ion mobility spectrometers, but can be detected by ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) instruments in negative mode.

Part 12 of the continuing series.

The need for reference materials that can be applied in the area of thin films analysis has long been realized but is still, in general, under-addressed. Alumina films of single-micrometer thickness, having either fine distributions of impurities or delta function impurity marker layers, can be prepared routinely by anodic oxidation of electropolished aluminum specimens in appropriate electrolytes. Selected films were examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and analyzed by radio frequency glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy (rf-GD-OES), providing very rapid, yet high-resolution, depth-resolved analysis of these electrically insulating materials.

Part 12 of the ongoing series.

The column begins a new, mulipart series.