Rapid identification of chemical warfare agents using hyper-fast gas chromatography combined with dual polarity ion mobility spectrometry

The analytical performance of ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) is frequently enhanced by coupling with gas chromatography (GC). This hyphenated approach mitigates chemical cross-sensitivities and competitive ionization effects, and enables the distinct separation of analytes even in the presence of complex background matrices. However, coupling GC to IMS can significantly extend analysis time from typically 1 s for IMS to several minutes depending on the chromatographic runtime, thus, limiting the usability of GC-IMS in time-critical scenarios. The newly developed hyper-fast GC-IMS technology offers a viable alternative that features a purpose-built dual-polarity IMS detector. It maintains the high sensitivity of IMS, provides highly selective two-dimensional separation, and achieves short analysis times in less than a minute. Consequently, hyper-fast GC-IMS is of particular interest for defense and security applications that require the urgent identification of toxic substances such as chemical warfare agents (CWAs). In this work, we evaluate the system's capability to detect nine different CWAs in the positive and negative ion polarity, yielding appropriate results with limits of detection (LOD) within the single-digit ng/μL range. Furthermore, analyzing VX in diesel-contaminated topsoil demonstrates the system's suitability for rapid identification of target analytes within complex background matrices.