APPLICATION OF PAPER SPRAY IONIZATION MASS SPECTROMETRY AND RELATED TECHNIQUES IN THE DIRECT ANALYSIS OF BIOLOGICAL MATRICES FOR DETECTION OF DRUGS- A REVIEW

In recent years, technological development in analytical instrumentation has progressed vigorously, which has allowed the evolution of analytical techniques that play an indispensable role within society, highlighting mass spectrometry. Parallel to the technological advance of this technique, the development of new ionization methods that are simpler, faster, and allow direct analysis without the need for prior treatment or sample processing is underway. The methods of ambient ionization derived from paper spray have been developing rapidly in current days, mainly in the forensic field, due to the chemical modifications made in the paper substrate and the introduction of new types of organic materials that function as a probe/substrate to collect, store, and ionize the sample, then enabling more efficient and selective analyzes. This review highlights direct analyzes by applying paper spray ionization in the forensic field and some variations of this technique, including Thread Spray Ionization (TSI) when a fabric thread is used; Touch Spray Ionization (TSI), which uses materials such as metallic needles, medical swabs, and wooden sticks; Fiber Spray Ionization (FSI), which applies polymeric fibers as substrates.