Sample preparation

On a sample preparation point of view, the LDTD is compatible with any typical extraction procedure such as  liquid-liquid extraction, solid phase extraction (SPE) and protein crashed.  Minor adjustments might be necessary to perform a LDTD analysis such as extract dilution, increasing the organic phase volume in a liquid-liquid extraction, lowering the sample size or increasing the washes in a SPE.  These minor modifications are performed to lower the non-volatile matrix content into the final solution.

The LDTD is very robust to ionic suppression. A solution with a high salt content (10 mg/mL in water) can be analyzed in LDTD without observing ionic suppression. During the thermal desorption process, the salt material stay onto the well while the analytes goes into the gas phase to undergo APCI, leading to a optimal ionization.