What’s Mass
Spec­tro­me­try?

Mass spec­tro­me­try is one of the most powerful tech­ni­ques in che­mi­cal ana­ly­sis. Mass spec­tro­me­ters enable to de­tect and cha­rac­te­ri­ze sub­s­tances ba­sed on the mass-to-char­ge ra­tio of their mole­cu­les. To do so, MS com­pri­se two ba­sic com­pon­ents: an io­niza­ti­on source and a mass ana­ly­zer.

The SICRIT® Ion Source Tech­no­lo­gy is an am­bi­ent flow-th­rough io­niza­ti­on tech­ni­que (Soft Ioniza­ti­on by Che­mi­cal Reac­tion In Trans­fer) for mass spec­tro­me­ters with at­mo­sphe­ric pres­su­re in­let (LC-MS).

SICRIT® logo with icon and wordmark "SICRIT® technology"

Ion Source
Tech­no­lo­gy

Head to Head Com­pa­ri­son

Con­ven­tio­nal io­niza­ti­on

Graphic that shows how conventional ionization works before entering a mass spectrometer.

It is fun­da­men­tal­ly dif­fe­rent to con­ven­tio­nal io­niza­ti­on me­thods:
In al­most all con­ven­tio­nal io­niza­ti­on me­thods like ESI, DART, DESI or APCI, the ana­ly­te gets io­ni­zed be­fo­re be­ing in­tro­du­ced into the MS.

Alt: Line art of the SICRIT® ion source

SICRIT® io­niza­ti­on

Graphic that shows how the SICRIT® ionization works before entering the mass spectrometer.

The pa­ten­ted SICRIT® Ion Source Tech­no­lo­gy ex­tends the in­let of the MS and io­ni­zes all mole­cu­les that are drawn into the sys­tem due to the pr­e­vai­ling va­cu­um by me­ans of a spe­ci­al­ly shaped cold plas­ma.

Ion Source
Ad­van­ta­ges

Icon that resembles an Erlenmeyer flask filled with a bubbling liquid and that stands for sensitivity as one of the advantages of the SICRIT® Ion Source Technology

In­creased sen­si­ti­vi­ty

The io­niza­ti­on wi­thin a clo­sed cham­ber in ex­ten­si­on of the in­let pre­vents co­lum­bic re­pul­si­on be­fo­re the in­let and en­ables hig­her sen­si­ti­vi­ties.

Icon that resembles a magnifier and that stands for an enhanced range of analytes as one of the advantages of the SICRIT® Ion Source Technology

Enhan­ced ran­ge of ana­lytes

Th­ree si­mul­ta­neous io­niza­ti­on me­cha­nisms ex­pand the ran­ge of de­tec­ta­ble ana­lytes, co­ve­ring po­lar and non-po­lar com­pon­ents.

Icon that resembles an intact molecule with a highlighted one in the middle and that stands for no fragmentation as one of the advantages of the SICRIT® Ion Source Technology

No frag­men­ta­ti­on

The uni­que shape of the cold plas­ma en­ables a soft io­niza­ti­on of ana­lytes and avo­ids frag­men­ta­ti­on.

Icon that resembles a target with a highlighted bull's-eye and that stands for one for all as one of the advantages of the SICRIT® Ion Source Technology

One for all

The SICRIT® source is available for all cur­rent LC-MS sys­tems of all ven­dors.

Icon that resembles two crossed tools and that stands for no sample preparation as one of the advantages of the SICRIT® Ion Source Technology

No sam­ple pre­pa­ra­ti­on

The am­bi­ent cha­rac­ter of the io­niza­ti­on source al­lows to ana­ly­ze so­lid, li­quid, or gas­eous samples in room air wi­t­hout sam­ple pre­pa­ra­ti­on (di­rect scree­ning).

Icon that resembles a puzzle just being completed and that stands for felxible coupling as one of the advantages of the SICRIT® Ion Source Technology

Fle­xi­ble cou­pling

SICRIT® ion source tech­no­lo­gy is the only tech­ni­que that pro­vi­des a seam­less cou­pling with all chro­ma­to­gra­phy me­thods like GC, LC and SFC.

Icon that resembles stacked coins and that stands for low operation costs as one of the advantages of the SICRIT® Ion Source Technology

Low ope­ra­ti­on cos­ts

SICRIT® does not re­qui­re He­li­um or other no­ble ga­ses for ope­ra­ti­on, it runs with am­bi­ent air and elec­tri­cal power.

Icon that resembles a play button and that stands for an easy installation & operation as one of the advantages of the SICRIT® Ion Source Technology

Easy in­stal­la­ti­on & ope­ra­ti­on

Plug & play ion source that does neither re­qui­re ca­li­bra­ti­on nor ad­ap­ti­ons on hard­ware, soft­ware, or work­flow.

Re­la­ted Ar­tic­les

Discover which ionization methods are typically used for the analysis of nitrosamines, the challenges that may arise, and a promising alternative.

By Io­niza­ti­on Only: De­tec­ting Ni­tros­ami­nes with Mass Spec­tro­me­try

Dis­co­ver which io­niza­ti­on me­thods are ty­pi­cal­ly used for the ana­ly­sis of ni­tros­ami­nes, the chal­lenges that may ari­se, and a pro­mi­sing al­ter­na­ti­ve.

Cat-Sicrit
Tech­no­lo­gy
Imagine a device that could analyze the molecular components of a sample by

Ima­gi­ne, Snif­fing Mole­cu­les

Ima­gi­ne a de­vice that could ana­ly­ze the mole­cu­lar com­pon­ents of a sam­ple by „snif­fing“ them. Read in this aric­le what Di­rect MS me­ans for re­se­arch and la­bo­ra­to­ries.

Cat-Sicrit
Tech­no­lo­gy