ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a discussion of basic mass spectrometry principles including sample preparation, sample introduction, ionization, mass analysis, and detection followed by current and future contributions to the field of forensic science. The fundamental processes of a mass spectrometer involve the introduction and ionization of sample molecules followed by the separation and detection of the ions produced. If you are thinking as a chromatographer, the mass spectrometer is simply a detector for the “visualization” of the chromatographically resolved species. Mass spectrometers are by no means specific to forensic science and serve as invaluable analytical instruments in bioanalytical, medicinal, environmental, and homeland security applications, to name a few. Given the tremendous variety of specimens encountered by forensic mass spectrometrists as well as the inherent complexity of many forensic samples, it was inevitable that interfacing a gas chromatograph with a mass spectrometer as a detector would be a beneficial analytical development.
