The research, which appears in today’s (Friday, Oct. 15) issue of the journal Science, was conducted by first author Zoltán Takáts with Justin M. Wiseman, Bogdan Gologan and Cooks, all of Purdue.

Gologan said that the team’s innovation was inspired in part by the desire to use one of chemistry’s most powerful tools in less limiting environments than the laboratory.

„Testing an unknown sample using standard mass spec can take up to half a day,” said Gologan, a graduate student in Cooks’ laboratory. „You have to dissolve the sample, then dilute the solution, then add additional compounds before you can stick it in the spectrometer. It’s a generally effective process, but it’s not so attractive in situations where time is of the essence.”
http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/2004/041015.Cooks.spectrometer.html