title: What can we learn from ambient ionization techniques?
abstract: Ambient mass spectrometry-mass spectrometric analysis with no or minimal effort for sample preparation-has experienced a very rapid development during the last 5 years, with many different methods now available for ionization. Here, we review its range of applications, the hurdles encountered for its quantitative use, and the proposed mechanisms for ion formation. Clearly, more effort needs to be put into investigation of matrix effects, into defining representative sampling of heterogeneous materials, and into understanding and controlling the underlying ionization mechanisms. Finally, we propose a concept to reduce the number of different acronyms describing very similar embodiments of ambient mass spectrometry.
authors.affiliation: Applied Chemistry Department, East China Institute of Technology, Fuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Huanwen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gamez
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zenobi
mesh_terms: D000004:Abbreviations as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007477:Ions; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D007477:Ions