SUPER SESI-X
SSX
Biologically relevant vapor and nano-aerosol detection in real-time
SUPER SESI-X is a high-efficiency Secondary Electrospray Ionization (SESI) source optimized for the analysis of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in real time.
SSX ionizes vapors and nano-aerosols for MS analysis and biologically relevant metabolites with ultra-low vapor pressure.
Main features:
High ionization efficiency, up to 600 Da
Super Soft ionization
Atmospheric pressure operation
Real-time, Seamless sample flow introduction
Compatible with Thermo Exploris, Tribrid, Astral, and TSQ MS
How it works:
a nano-electrospray produces charging agents at high concentration.
Charge is transferred from protonated clusters to the vapors and nano-aerosols via Charge Transfer Reactions and Field Charging Effects.
Charged vapors and nano-aerosols are desolvated, transferred into the vacuum side of the MS, and analyzed
Why SESI is ideal for utra-trace low Limits of Detection
- Because ionizing at atmospheric pressure improves ionization efficiency:
Turbulent losses and condensation losses are eliminated, which means more molecules reach the ionization area. Since molecules are ionized before they reach the adiabatic expansion and cooling, region process (instead of at the entrance of the ionizer as it happens in low-pressure operating systems), ions are heated by electric fields and focused.
The ionization reaction is much faster, which means better ionization efficiency. The velocity scales with (1) the concentration of the vapors and (2) the concentration of the charging ions, both of them go with the pressure in the ionizer. At room pressure (10^3 mBar), the velocity of the charge reaction is 10^6 times higher than at 1 mBar.
High-performance Electrospray - MS systems are optimized to transfer and desolvate heavy ions from atmospheric pressure into their vacuum side. This challenging technical problem is already solved by currently available commercial MS systems. SSX just rides on very powerful horses!
The ionization efficiency of nano-electrospray is extremely high because the concentration of charging agents near the nano-jet is extremely high
- Because the nano-electrospray provides very clean spectra:
In-source ion fragmentation and oxidation are very low because there are no high-energy ions present at any point in the ionizer. Compared with other sources using plasma as a source of charging ions, SESI ions are formed from evaporating nano-droplets. The result is a simpler spectrum, with a cleaner background, which is easier to interpret.
Reliable nano-electrospray
- Discharges are eliminated with a voltage/current oscillation dampener.
- Stability is monitored by a digital nano-Amperemeter (precision of 0.3nA).
- To minimize electro chemical effects, the liquid is electrified with tantalum.
- The n-Electrospray position is controlled by a digital micro-servomotor.
- Liquid feed controlled by digital pressure controller.
- SSX utilizes Sharp Singularity emitters. To learn more about them, click here.
Why automate every control of an ion source?
SSX is an electrospray robot. All the controls are electronic and connected to an embedded microcomputer.
Nano-electrospray provides the best ionization performance known, but obtaining a stable signal can be tricky.
The new SUPER SESI-X is fully automatic and integrates the computational power to host smart control.