Identity confirmation of drugs and explosives in ion mobility spectrometry using a secondary drift gas

This work demonstrated the potential of using a secondary drift gas of differing polarizability from the primary drift gas for confirmation of a positive response for drugs or explosives by ion mobility spectrometry (IMS). The gas phase mobilities of response ions for selected drugs and explosives were measured in four drift gases. The drift gases chosen for this study were air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide providing a range of polarizability and molecular weights. Four other drift gases (helium, neon, argon and sulfur hexafluoride) were also investigated but design limitations of the commercial instrument prevented their use for this application. When ion mobility was plotted against drift gas polarizability, the resulting slopes were often unique for individual ions, indicating that selectivity factors between any two analytes varied with the choice of drift gas. In some cases, drugs like THC and heroin, which are unresolved in air or nitrogen, were well resolved in carbon dioxide or nitrous oxide.