A comparative study of microporous polyolefin silica-based paper and cellulose paper substrates utilizing paper spray-mass spectrometry in drug analysis

This comparative study proposes an efficient technique by employing a synthetic substrate, which is commercially available, for direct, sensitive, efficient and fast analysis in Paper Spray Mass Spectrometry (PS-MS). The Teslin substrate is a well-known synthetic paper used in the printing industry, and it is made with a single-layered, microporous polyolefin-silica matrix. Currently, filter paper is one of the most commonly used natural cellulose fiber-based substrates in PS-MS. In this study, the analytical performance of Teslin vs. filter paper was determined by measuring different physical characteristics such as porosity, solvent elution efficiency and sensitivity of both substrates. The key result of electrostatic-spray ionization in the hydrophobic Teslin substrate was more efficient detection and direct analysis of a smaller amount of drug samples (1 μL) with an improved signal sensitivity of 26.94-fold in comparison to filter paper. It has been demonstrated that the efficiency of reproducibility of the analyte, signal-noise ratio, and constant longer active signal (>2 min) were notably improved with the hydrophobicity of Teslin paper by eliminating chromatographic effects. The limit of detection for drug analysis was reported to be in the lower μg mL^-1 range.