AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Application of a SPAMS 3.0 Single Particle Aerosol Mass Spectrometer to Inhalational Pharmaceuticals and Real-time Microbiology
DAVID FERGENSON, Livermore Instruments Inc.
Abstract Number: 486 Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods
Abstract Several instruments capable of collecting a single laser mass spectrum from a single aerosol particle have been developed [1] and a trade-off typically exists between the simplicity of single laser tracking instruments such as the Rapid Single Particle Mass Spectrometer (RSPMS) [2] and the sizing accuracy of multi-laser tracking instruments such as the Aerosol Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (ATOFMS) [3]. We describe the SPAMS 3.0, an instrument that combines the advantages of each type of instrument.
A SPAMS 3.0 uses a single laser which is square in profile to both determine the aerodynamic diameter of a particle and to actuate the ionization of that particle by a second laser, adjacent to the first. Like an RSPMS, under the right circumstances it ionizes all particles that it fires upon and degrades gracefully, even at very high particle concentrations. Like an ATOFMS, it determines the size of a particle aerodynamically. Ionization and data acquisition rates of up to 250 Hz are possible.
Data from two applications of the SPAMS 3.0 are presented. In the first application, a SPAMS 3.0 was used to determine the presence/co-presence of different active ingredients in inhalational pharmaceuticals as well as the sizes of the particles in which they were found. In the second application, a SPAMS 3.0 was used to determine the identities of individual microorganisms aerosolized from suspension in real-time.
1. Murphy, D.M., The Design of Single Particle Laser Mass Spectrometers, Mass Spectrometry Reviews 2007, 26, 150-165
2. McKeown, P.J., Johnston, M.V. and Murphy, D.M., On-Line Single-Particle Analysis by Laser Desorption Mass Spectrometry, Analytical Chemistry 1991, 63, 2069-2073
3. Prather K.A., Nordmeyer, T. and Salt, K., Real-Time Characterization of Individual Aerosol Particles Using Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry, Aerosol Science and Technology 1998, 29(4):294 - 306.