“Laundry Detective”: Identification of a Stain
The AccuTOF-DART™ was recently applied to an unusual analytical problem: finding the cause of oily stains on freshly laundered shirts (Figure 1). No cutting or extraction was required. Stained and unstained regions of the shirt were placed in the DART gas stream and the mass spectra were acquired.
The DART parameters were: helium gas, flow 3-4 LPM, gas heater set to 175 degrees C, positive-ion mode, PEG 600 exact mass reference standard. These conditions did not damage the shirt.