Analysis of hazardous chemicals by “stand alone” drift tube ion mobility spectrometry: A review

Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) is a widely used technique based on the gas phase ion separation under an electric field by differences in ion mobilities. In the last decade, IMS techniques have received an increased attention due to its high operational speed and sensitivity. Currently, there are different IMS devices focused to solve different analytical performances, mainly based on stand-alone and hyphenated instruments. In addition, stand-alone IMS devices can be classified as linear drift tube (DT IMS), traveling wave, and field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometers. In this review we summarize the main applications of DT-IMS devices for the determination of semi-volatile hazardous chemicals such as: illegal drugs, pesticides, explosives, and others, in different matrices, in order to provide a detailed view of the excellent analytical features of the technique.