Modified chromatographic thin layer surface as an interface to couple thin layer chromatography with ToF-SIMS

The goal of our research is the development of a new interface to combine thin layer chromatography (TLC) with time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). The direct combination of the simple separation technique (TLC) with the highly selective identification unit (ToF-SIMS) requires a modification of common TLC material to reduce the background signal in SIMS spectra. The background signal is caused either by the stationary phase or by the residual mobile phase (solvent). The aluminium back of the TLC layer has been modified to get a universal porous TLC-ToF-SIMS interface. Functionality of this novel interface has been tested with a Methyl Red indicator as a representative analyte to visualize its transport through the chromatographic layer and interface. From ToF-SIMS results it was found that the indicator molecule fragments at the diazo double bond -N=N-. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.