CHROMtalks - Why and How to Develop A Non-targeted GC(MS) Screening Method

The application of gas chromatography (GC) to non-targeted screening (NTS) has a short (but already fine) history. In practical laboratory environments, many scientists feel that GC–MS has already been quite well implemented for NTS applications. This assessment mostly reflects a misunderstanding of real NTS. A typical GC–electron impact (EI)–MS run, in which the ionization is performed by “hard” EI, followed by a analytical (NIST) database search, is really more of a suspects screening approach than a classical NTS. In this talk the topics are focused on analytical instrumentation and data analysis strategies in NTS as well as practical dos and don'ts realizing NTS in the laboratory.