Atmospheric pressure laser desorption/chemical ionization mass spectrometry: a new ionization method based on existing themes

Abstract
We have designed and constructed an atmospheric pressure laser desorption/chemical ionization (AP‐LD/CI) source that utilizes a laser pulse to desorb intact neutral molecules, followed by chemical ionization via reagent ions produced by a corona discharge. This source employs a heated capillary atmospheric pressure inlet coupled to a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer and allows sampling under normal ambient air conditions. Preliminary results demonstrate that this technique provides ∼150‐fold increase in analyte ions compared to the ion population generated by atmospheric pressure infrared matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization (AP‐IR‐MALDI). Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.