Abstract
Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) has the same long history as mass spectrometry (MS). The method detects charged molecules not in vacuum but in buffer gas. Through the interaction between the charged molecules and the buffer gas, unique properties like structures, chiralities, and hydrophilicity of molecules can be observed by IMS. However, the resolution and the sensitivity of IMS are far less than those of MS limiting the applications of IMS. Those disadvantages have been resolved by the recent development of the ion and the vacuum handling techniques, which leads to hybrid spectrometry of IMS/MS (ion mobility spectrometry/mass spectrometry). Here we show the concept and recent progress on IMS, especially on IMS/MS, which have been opening new field in nano, bio, and environment sciences.
