Atmospheric Solids Analysis Probe (ASAP®)
ASAP-MS is a popular low-cost manual ionization method used worldwide in hundreds of laboratories. Vaporizable compounds are ionized with ease and simplicity. The approach is frequently used for direct analysis of biological and polymeric materials as well as synthesis products. An advantage of the ASAP method is that a simple modification of most commercial ionization sources allows the ASAP method to always be available while not interfering with normal use. The ASAP method requires high voltage used with ESI or APCI, a discharge needle, and a stream of heated gas (usually nitrogen) supplied with APCI and many ESI sources to vaporize the sample. Numerous publications extol the virtues of the ASAP method. For a list of interesting ASAP publications visit the homepage below: