Screening analysis for unknown substance, especially non-metal automobile components, uses gas or liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry and databases of known retention indexes and mass spectra and substances

摘要

The screening process, to identify an unknown substance in a sample uses a gas chromatography (1)/mass spectrometry (2) (GC/MS) or a liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) process. The operation is set by a control and evaluation unit (3). A chromatogram is produced as a function of the sample retention time and a mass spectrum is taken at the time point for a substance in the chromatogram to be compared with known substances stored in the mass spectrum database (5). A retention index is determined at the time point, for comparison with retention indexes of known substances stored in the retention index database (4). At least one substance is selected from a database (6) which matches the retention index and the mass spectrum is compared with those for selected substances to identify the unknown substance.