Sample-introduction systems coupled to ion-mobility spectrometry equipment for determining compounds present in gaseous, liquid and solid samples

This article reviews available sample-introduction systems (SISs) for coupling to ion-mobility spectrometry (IMS) equipment. A wide variety of devices are currently in use to introduce gas, liquid and solid samples into IMS instruments. The systems reviewed in this work include permeation tubes, purge vessels, dilution glass flasks, headspace samplers, evaporator units, membrane inlets, solid-phase microextraction units, stir-bar sorptive extractors, thermal desorption units, chromatographic columns and supercritical fluid chromatographs, in addition to electrospray ionization and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization ion sources. Currently available SlSs perform far from ideally, so there is still a need to develop new, more efficient choices for introducing samples into IMS equipment in a reliable manner. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.