Mass Spectrometry and Its Wide-Ranging Applications in Industries

Be it processed food, drinking water, air, or medicated drugs, quality has become of the utmost importance. As any contamination in them can lead to disastrous consequences, including death, in extreme cases, the focus on testing the quality of such substances has strengthened in the past few decades. Often, the particles that lead to contamination are so small that they cannot be seen from the naked eye. This is where mass spectrometry is used as it excites the particles to a cation state, before separating them on the basis of the ratio of their mass to charge and detecting them.

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As per P&S Intelligence, the wide applications of this analytical technique will be a key reason behind the growth of the mass spectrometry market in the years to come. The key sector where this technique is used is pharmaceutical, where it finds application in absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination (ADME) studies, drug discovery, metabolite screening, preclinical development, and pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic analysis. Beyond this sector, in clinical research and drug trials, mass spectroscopy is used for phase 0 studies.

Moreover, it is utilized to ascertain the purity of pharmaceutical products. Considering that such products have a direct impact on human health, they are strongly regulated around the world. Stringent regulations are implemented on the pharma sector and the standards are regularly updated by organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), International Pharmaceutical Excipients Council (IPEC) Federation, European Association of Chemical Distributors (FECC), European Fine Chemical Group, and Pharmaceutical Quality Group (PQG), which is driving the mass spectrometry market by boosting the usage of this technique.

“We could detect the peptides of SARS-CoV-2 virus even in patients who have recovered from the symptoms and have tested negative for the virus by RT-PCR. The peptides were present even after 14 days of initial infection. This highlights the sensitivity of the technique.”, said Dr Shantanu Sengupta of the IGIB, who headed the research project. Thus, with COVID-19 cases continuing to soar and a potential third wave of the Delta variant approaching, the technique could find even more usage, with tests costing merely INR 100, which is a lot cheaper than RT-PCR.

Similarly, in forensics, the technique is used for checking for substance use, trace-evidence analysis, such as of polymers in paints and fibers in carpets, investigating for arson, and identifying residues after an explosion. Moreover, mass spectrometry is used in environmental applications, such as air and water quality analysis, soil and food contamination screening, and pesticide monitoring and screening. With the increasing awareness on the harms of consuming contaminated food and water and the increasing stringency of the regulations implemented in this regard, the usage of mass spectrometry is growing.