Aviv Analytical

The Open Probe Fast GC-MS technology (US patents 7,928,370 and 8,591,630) of Aviv Analytical is the latest advance in mass spectrometry probes and real time analysis (ambient ionization) technologies. It provides the easiest to operate, fastest and most flexible real time analysis method with under 30 seconds analysis time with separation and library identification.

The Open Probe Fast GC in combination with either our 5977-SMB GC-MS with Cold EI or your available standard Agilent 5975 or 5977 GC-MS provides the ideal system for forensic, homeland security, medical diagnostics and other diverse applications.

Imagine real time analysis capability, without sample preparation, combined with ultra-fast GC separation, library identification and uniform response for effective quantification on your GC-MS system.

The open probe consists of a small probe oven that is mounted onto our unique low thermal mass Ultra-Fast GC which is placed on a standard GC-MS or on our GC-MS with Cold EI. The Open Probe oven is open to room air while having helium purge flow protection to eliminate air leakage into its oven and column.

Figure 1. A schematic diagram of the Open Probe Fast GC-MS and a photo (bottom right side) demonstrating sample introduction on a melting point vial into it. The various components of the system are indicated with names. In the photo from right to left: melting point vial sample holder, Open Probe, low thermal mass Fast GC and the bottom is the standard GC (Agilent 7890B) of the Agilent 5977 GC-MS.

The open probe fast GC is uniquely characterized by:

• Combines real time analysis with separation while eliminating sample preparation

• Enables library identification and its confirmation with our TAMI Molecule Identifier software that can also provide elemental formulae. NIST library identification unlike any ambient ionization method provides identification at the isomer level with names and structures.

• Fast analysis cycle time which can be less then 10 seconds without separation or under 30 s with separation.

• Easiest to use MS probe with minimal number of steps from the sample to the data.

• Flexible MS probe with broad range of sample handling tools.

• Unlike DART, DESI or ASAP alternatives our Open Probe Fast GC operates with the popular low cost quadrupole mass spectrometers of GC-MS systems with their in-vacuum EI or CI ion sources.

In figure 2 below we demonstrate the operation of the Open Probe Fast GC-MS. Unique to this Cannabis flower analysis is the fact that it was very short and did not involve any sample preparation. A standard melting point vial lightly touched once the Cannabis flower and was inserted into the Open Probe while pressing the start button and the resulting total ion mass chromatogram took only 30 seconds while after 50 seconds the system was ready for the next analysis.

Figure 2. The analysis of Cannabis flower by Open Probe Fast GC-MS. The upper trace shows the obtained full scan total ion count mass chromatogram with arrows indicating the elution of its main active ingredients of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabinol (CBN) and the bottom trace shows the obtained standard EI mass spectrum of THC itself and the obtained NIST library identification data and THC structure and name at the isomer structural level. The data collection started with pressing the MS start button and the chromatography ended after 30 seconds.

Below is our short video presentation demonstrating the real time analysis of Cannabis.

Please read our blog article which further describes the new Open Probe Fast GC-MS technology and its several applications when combined with Agilent's 5977 MSD.

For more details please read or ask for the paper of A. Amirav, U. Keshet, T. Alon and A. B. Fialkov "Open Probe Fast GC-MS - Real Time Analysis with Separation" Int. J. Mass Spectrom. 371, 47-53 (2014). and Uri Keshet, Tal Alon, Alexander B. Fialkov and Aviv Amirav "Open Probe Fast GC-MS - Combining Ambient Sampling Ultra-Fast Separation and In-Vacuum Ionization for Real Time Analysis" J. Mass Spectrom. 52, 417-426 (2017)