Solid phase methods have a number of important roles to play in NASA missions. Solid phase extractions can enhance the sensitivity of compounds found only in very dilute quantities. Desalting methods remove the salt that can interfere with the ionization processes used for mass spectroscopy. Qualification of ion exchange media provides desalting and charged mineral removal from samples. The Phase II effort to qualify chromatographic solid phases will bring great benefits to NASA’s efforts.
These solid phase methods are already utilized extensively for earth based sample preparation before analysis. The materials to be qualified are already commercially available, thus no new non-NASA applications are anticipated.
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