The analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath has become a growing field of research in recent years. In the blood gas exchange in the lungs alveoli Carbon dioxide is released into and Oxygen is taken up from the inhaled air. This exchange also applies to volatile metabolites (endogenous compounds) or VOCs that have been consumed or have previously been inhaled (exogenous compounds). The sampling of VOCs in exhaled breath is non-invasive, simple and fast. This makes it especially intriguing and has numerous applications, see below.
IONICON PTR-TOF systems are particularly well suited for breath gas analysis: Their detection limits and linearity range match the concentrations typically found in breath and high mass resolving power allows to separate isobaric compounds. Moreover, in addition to offline analysis where breath is collected in a container and then analyzed, the high sensitivity and fast response time of these systems allows to analyze breath online and in real-time. IONICON PTR-TOF systems have become the de-facto standard for real-time breath analysis.
