Off-line coupling of microcolumn separations to desorption mass spectrometry

The presented review provides comprehensive and detailed characteristics on microcolumn separation techniques off-line coupled to mass spectrometry. Major attention is paid to the classification of junctions between the separation column and the deposition needle and to the process by which the liquid is transferred onto the target. Both contact and non-contact deposition techniques are covered. In order to emphasize the significance of the topic of off-line separations, current commercially available devices have been compared in terms of their potential utilization in analytical chemistry with a summarization of applications used over the past few years. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.