Table 1.
Some clinically relevant ambient ionization techniques and applications.
| Ambient ion sources | Year | Compounds | Biological matrix | Sample volume | Study type | LODa | MS data acquisition | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DART | 2005 | Ranitidine (exo) | Urine | – | Qualitative | – | HR TOF-MS (exact mass measurement) | Takyi-Williams et al. (76) |
| 2013 | Phenylalanine PKU screening (endo) | DBS | – | Quantitative | 3.0 μmol/L | QQQ-MS(MRM) | Wang et al. (16) | |
| 2014 | Dimethylamylamine (exo) | Urine | – | Qualitative | – | HR TOF-MS (exact mass measurement) | Lesiak et al. (70) | |
| TM-DART | 2014 | Cocaine, diazepam (exo) | Urine, plasma | 0.3–1.5 mL | Quantitative | Cocaine <5 pg/mL, diazepam < 0.5 ng/mL | MRM | Gómez-Ríosa et al. (71) |
| DESI | 2006 | Cocaine and amphetamine-like stimulants | DBS | – | Qualitative | – | QqQLIT(MRM) | Wagner et al. (20) |
| 2007 | Androstadienedione, stigmastadienone, androsteronehemisuccinate, 5α-androstan-3β,17β-diol-16-one, androsterone glucuronide, epitestosterone, and 6-dehydrocholestenone | Urine | 10 μL | Qualitative | 0.6–10 ng/mL | LIT (product MS/MS ion scan) | Huang et al. (72) | |
| 2007 | Phenylalanine, leucine, valine, tyrosine, and methionine | DBS | 3.1 μL | Qualitative | – | QQQ-MS (neutral loss) | Corso et al. (12) | |
| 2010 | Sitamaquine, terfenadine, prazosin (exo) | DBS | 15 μL | Quantitative | – | QQQ-MS (MRM) | Wiseman et al. (10) | |
| DESI coupled with TLME* | 2013 | Methadone, amitriptyline, nortriptyline, andpethidine | Urine | 150 μL | Qualitative | 4–17 ng/mL | LIT (full scan) | Rosting et al. (73) |
| Nanospray DESI | 2008 | DOPA, ephedrine, and ibuprofen | DBS | – | Qualitative, chiral | 5–20 μg | – | Ranc et al. (13) |
| PS | 2011 | Propranolol, atenolol (exo) | DBS | – | Qualitative | – | QQQ-MS (MRM) | Manicke et al. (30) |
| 2011 | Acetaminophen, bezethonium, citalopram, dextrorphan, ibuprofen, paclitaxel, proguanil, simvastatin, sunitinib, telmisartan, verapamil, sitamaquine, amitriptyline (exo) | DBS | 10 μL | Quantitative | ng/mL range | QQQ-MS (MRM) | Manicke et al. (31) | |
| 2012 | Pazopanib, tamoxifen, imatinib, cyclophosphamide, paclitaxel, irinotecan, docetaxel, topotecan (exo) | DBS | 10 μL | Quantitative | 0.5–17 ng/mL | QQQ-MS (MRM) | Espy et al. (29) | |
| 2012 | Acylcarnitines(endo) | Blood, serum | 0.5 μL | Quantitative | 10–100 nmol/L | QQQ-MS (MRM) | Yang et al. (32) | |
| 2013 | Nicotine, cotinine, trans-3′-hydroxycotinine, anabasine (exo) | Blood, oral fluid, urine | 5 μL | Quantitative | <1–5 ng/mL | QQQ-MS (MRM) | Wang et al. (74) | |
| 2013 | Acylcarnitines (C2–C18) | Urine | Quantitative | 6–208 ng/mL | QQQ-MS (MRM) | Naccarato et al. (75) | ||
| 2014 | Amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDA, MDMA, MDEA, morphine, cocaine, Δ9-THC (exo) | Blood | 12 μL | Quantitative | <1–12 ng/mL | QQQ-MS (MRM) | Shi et al. (34) | |
| 2015 | Tacrolimus (exo) | DBS | 10 μL | Quantitative | 0.2 ng/mL | QQQ-MS (MRM) | Edelbroek et al. (33) | |
| 2015 | Sunitinib and benzethonium (exo) | Plasma | 2 μL | Quantitative | 1 ng/mL | QQQ-MS (MRM) | Takyi-Williams et al. (76) | |
| 2015 | Amphetamine, meprobamate, O-desmethyl-cis-tramadol, carisoprodol, tramadol, nordiazepam, EDDP, diazepam, norhydrocodone, hydromorphone, morphine, codeine, temazepam, noroxycodone, alprazolam, methadone, oxycodone, buprenorphine, norbuprenorphine, fentanyl, propoxyphene, 6-monoacetylmorphine (exo) | Oral fluid | 7 μL | Quantitative | ng/mL range | QQQ-MS (MRM) | Unpublished material | |
| SPE-PS | 2015 | Alprazolam, atenolol, caffeine, carbadox, carbamazepine, diazepam, digoxigenin, diltiazem, diphenhydramine, imatinib, propanolol, sulfadiazine, sulfamethazine, sulfathiazole, thiabendazole (exo) | Plasma | 100 μL | Quantitative | ng/mL range | QQQ-MS (MRM) | Zhang et al. (36) |
| Coated blade spray | 2014 | Cocaine, diazepam (exo) | Plasma, urine | 0.3–1.5 mL | Quantitative | pg/mL range | QQQ-MS (MRM) | Gómez-Ríosa et al. (37) |
| Wooden-tip ESI | 2013 | Ketamine, norketamine (exo) | Oral fluid, urine | 2 μL | Quantitative | 20 and 50 ng/mL | QQQ-MS (MRM) | So et al. (23) |
| Touch spray | 2014 | Imatinib (exo) | Blood | – | Qualitative | – | LIT (product MS/MS ion scan) | Kerian et al. (24) |
| 2014 | Lipid profile of pathogenic microorganisms | Oral fluid | 40 μL | Qualitative | – | LIT (full scan) | Jarmusch et al. (26) | |
| Touch spray | 2015 | Cocaine, BZE, ketamine, MDA, MDMA, MDEA, AMP, MAMP, morphine, codeine, 6-MAM, methadone, buprenorphine, Δ9-THC (exo) | Oral fluid | 40 μL | Qualitative | ng/mL range | LIT (product MS/MS/MS ion scan) | Pirro et al. (25) |
a
LOD, limit of detection; exo, exogenous; HR, high resolution; TD-DART, transmission mode DART; PKU, phenylketonuria; endo, endogenous; QQQ, triple quadrupole; QqQLIT, hybrid triple quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometer; TLME, thin liquid membrane extraction; MDA, 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine; MDMA, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine; MDEA, nethylenedioxyethylamphetamine; THC, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol; EDDP, 2-ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpyrrolidine; BZE, benzoylecgonine; AMP, amphetamine; MAMP, methamphetamine; 6-MAM, 6-monoacetylmorphine.