New supercritical fluid chromatography interface probe for electrospray and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry

A new supercritical fluid chromatography interface probe has been constructed for atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry (API-MS). The use of API-MS effectively separates the ionization and mass analysis regions. Furthermore, a sheath-liquid flow of 20 mu l/min in electrospray ionization provides an attractive way of optimising the separation and ionization conditions independently of each other. The new probe allows for easy change of ionization mode, between electrospray and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization, which provides more freedom of choice when an analytical problem has to be solved. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.