ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR TRACE ORGANIC-COMPOUNDS .6. APPLICATION OF LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

The development of combinations of liquid chromatography with mass spe ctrometry in an on line fashion has come to a stage where such combina tions become part of routine procedures for the analysis of a broad va riety of samples. Since several technically very different interfaces have been devised in recent years, the major types are briefly discuss ed, even though it becomes more and more clear that only a few will su rvive. The most outstanding device appears to be the atmospheric press ure sources with electrospray and chemical ionization, since it covers many areas of chemical analysis in terms of polarity, liability and m olecular weights. The attempt has been made not only to give a picture of the techniques, but to indicate by means of a few examples, how us eful the different devices are and where they are at their limits. Fur thermore, the criteria are indicated which may be applied to make a ch oice on the basis of analytical requirements and technical and financi al possibilities.