An Effective Approach for Coupling Direct Analysis in Real Time with Atmospheric Pressure Drift Tube Ion Mobility Spectrometry

Drift tube ion mobility spectrometry (DTIMS) has evolved as a robust analytical platform routinely used for screening small molecules across a broad suite of chemistries ranging from food and pharmaceuticals to explosives and environmental toxins. Most modern atmospheric pressure IM detectors employ corona discharge, photoionization, radioactive, or electrospray ion sources for efficient ion production. Coupling standalone DTIMS with ambient plasma-based techniques, however, has proven to be an exceptional challenge. Device sensitivity with near-ground ambient plasma sources is hindered by poor ion transmission at the source-instrument interface, where ion repulsion is caused by the strong electric field barrier of the high potential ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) inlet. To overcome this shortfall, we introduce a new ion source design incorporating a repeller point electrode used to shape the electric field profile and enable ion transmission from a direct analysis in real time (DART) plasma ion source. Parameter space characterization studies of the DART DTIMS setup were performed to ascertain the optimal configuration for the source assembly favoring ion transport. Preliminary system capabilities for the direct screening of solid pharmaceuticals are briefly demonstrated.