Knowledge Base

Learn more about the power of trace gas analysis using SIFT-MS. Download our latest brochures, application notes and white papers or watch an application-focused video. Questions? Contact us!

Automated, direct headspace analysis using selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) provides rapid and economic screening of food products, ingredients, and packaging materials. This application note describes how SIFT-MS coupled with multivariate statistical analysis provides rapid beer analysis via an untargeted “fingerprinting” approach (i.e. utilizing SIFT-MS SCAN mode). Automated headspace-SIFT-MS analysis can classify beer at throughputs of 12 samples per hour, offering great potential for rapid product screening.

DMI is a very promising non-aqueous solvent because it can be used even without subsequent dilution in water.  Using a subset of residual solvents, this study confirms that moderately polar volatiles yield headspace responses that are independent of the volume of sample used. This means that cost and environmental impact can be reduced. Furthermore, with SIFT-MS this optimization can be carried out very rapidly due to direct sample analysis and high sample throughput.

This application note reviews polymer analysis applications of automated headspace-SIFT-MS. Rapid quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) screening of over 220 samples/day can be conducted using targeted or untargeted analysis, while quantitative volatile impurity analysis is achieved efficiently using multiple headspace extraction (MHE)-SIFT-MS. 

This application note summarizes key SIFT-MS results obtained and conclusions made in a peer reviewed open-access article entitled “Unreported VOC Emissions from Road Transport Including from Electric Vehicles.”  Learn how the Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory at the University of York used SIFT-MS for VOC analysis in its platform to experimentally verify – for the first time – that motor vehicle screen wash is a significant unreported source of VOC emissions (especially for ethanol and methanol). 

This study evaluates a headspace-SIFT-MS approach for Polysorbate 80 products from multiple suppliers and evaluates ethylene oxide and acetaldehyde recoveries. Results confirm that the headspace-SIFT-MS procedure reliably quantifies these analytes without requiring purification of Polysorbate 80 for matrix-matching the calibration standard. Hence, headspace-SIFT-MS analysis of ethylene oxide and acetaldehyde can revolutionize existing workflows.

This application note surveys the application of headspace-SIFT-MS to untargeted screening of food products and ingredients, such as beer, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and strawberry flavor mixes. Rapid quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) screening of up to 250 samples/day can be conducted using an untargeted approach.

Read our Summer 2023 Quarterly Newsletter to learn about the latest applications of SIFT-MS, webinars, and events!

This application note describes the utility of SIFT-MS in pre-screening polymer packaging materials for volatile MOSH and MOAH compounds.  Automated SIFT-MS can characterize 12 high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) samples per hour, or 220 / day.  Headspace-SIFT-MS readily analyzes benzene at high sensitivity as part of the same analysis.

In this article, the results of a DIMS air monitoring campaign in Auckland, New Zealand, are described. Real-time SIFT–MS measurements were obtained at three sites over a period of several weeks each. At each site, SIFT–MS provided effective on-site analysis to sub-ppbV levels with better than 1-min time resolution.

This application note describes how SIFT-MS coupled with multivariate statistical analysis can be utilized for rapid screening of pelleted virgin and recycled polypropylene using an untargeted “fingerprinting” approach. Automated headspace-SIFT-MS analysis can classify and qualify polypropylene samples at throughputs of over 230 samples per day, offering great potential for rapid screening of recycled polypropylene feedstock for FCM applications. Adoption of SIFT-MS supports product quality and enhances sustainability.

SIFT-MS provides unique capabilities that enable formulators to optimize the hot melt extrusion processes by minimizing polymer, API, and other excipient degradation. SIFT-MS provides real-time feedback though online, ultra-trace, gas-phase analysis of the small molecules emitted when the mixture is extruded, benefiting process development and optimization, as well as continuous process monitoring and control.

This application note investigates concentration dependence of MHE calibration in sample matrix.  Across the full range of analytes investigated in this study, MHE calibration holds for at least one order of magnitude change in sample concentration.  For analytes in the C7–C9 range, the MHE calibration applies over two orders of magnitude analyte concentration. These results mean that the MHE workflow can be applied to a wider range of samples in the matrix, further reducing calibration demand.