Final ProgramCPSA 2011
Science and Technology Coming Together to Make a Difference
October 3 - 6, 2011
Bucks County Sheraton Hotel
Langhorne, PA
Poster Abstract #10
"Mass Spec friendly" Plastics Safe for Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Analysis
Orochem Technologies Inc., 331 Eisenhower Lane South, Lombard, IL 60148 USA
The use of high-quality materials in sample preparation is critical for analytical applications using mass spectrometry. Leaching of chemicals from plastic and/or rubber may contaminate samples resulting in appearance of additional peaks in mass spectra which interfere with analyte analysis. We developed a quality control procedure for plastic consumables used in mass spectrometry and evaluated plastic products manufactured by a number of vendors. We detected significant contamination in methanol, acetone or acetonitrile washes from plastic products acquired from some vendors. The contamination was also present when consumables were pre-washed with water suggesting that chemicals were extracted from plastic by the organic solvents. To develop a product line of consumables for mass spectrometry applications we identified ways of effectively removing contamination from plastic. These “mass spec-friendly” plastics do not require conditioning and do not contaminate samples and therefore can be safely used in all analytical protocols including mass spectrometry analysis.