Time-of-flight bacteria analyser using metastable source ionization
AssigneesDephy Technolgies Inc., Universite de Montreal
InventorsMichel J. Bertrand, Olivier Peraldi
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Abstract
For analyzing micro-organisms and other high-molecular weight species, a sample of the substance to be analyzed is prepared, placed in a pyrolyzer where it is pyrolyzed with a selected temperature program to provide pyrolyzed product of a high-dalton mass range. The product is ionized using metastable atoms which results in efficient ionization with little fragmentation. The metastable atoms are generated using a generator that provides a beam of metastable atoms which is basically free from ions. The ionized product is then analyzed using a high acquisition rate mass analyzer, such as a time-of-flight (TOF) analyzer.
Claims16
An analyzer apparatus for high molecular weight species, the apparatus comprising:
- a metastable atom generator;
- a pyrolyzer for pyrolysis of a sample of said high molecular weight species;
- an ionization chamber in communication with said generator and said pyrolyzer;
- a mass analyzer;
- and
- an electric extraction lens device accelerating ionized ones of said species from said chamber into said mass analyzer.
A method of analyzing a micro-organism comprising the steps of:
- preparing a sample of the micro-organism;
- placing the sample in a pyrolyzer;
- pyrolyzing the sample with a selected temperature program to provide pyrolyzed product of a high-dalton mass range;
- ionizing said product using metastable atoms;
- and
- analyzing said ionized product using a high acquisition rate mass analyzer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.