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SMart Nose® : the first mass spectrometry based artificial nose.

     Electronic noses based on gas sensors have been developed during the last decade to analyze volatile organic compounds and have found applications in many areas such as the analysis of beverages, foods and polymers. Although these systems offer significant improvement over existing methods, they present some drawbacks in terms of selectivity and reproducibility. Now however, a new generation of artificial noses, based on mass spectrometry, opens new perspectives in the analysis of odors and volatile compounds.

     SMart Nose® is an artificial nose which allows the direct characterization by mass spectrometry of volatile organic components from liquid and solid samples without separation of the headspace constituents. The use of a state-of-the-art analytical technique such as mass spectrometry yields a very reproducible and precise fingerprint of each sample. Thus identification of a component is straightforward, and the comparison of large data sets easy.

     SMart Nose® is a fully automated instrument, characterized by high sensitivity, stability and ease-of-use. Two operational modes are available: the survey mode for the setup of new applications, and the multiple channel mode allows the specific and/or sensitive analyses in the day-to-day use. The system is entirely software controlled, and the statistical algorithms based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) or Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) convert the raw data into a user friendly format.

SMart Nose® : the unsurpassed odor analyzer

     SMart Nose® is the first artificial nose of a new generation of instrument based on mass spectrometry, a state-of-the-art analytical technique. The high performance of this technique offers new perspectives in analysis of odors and volatile organic compounds. Although electronic noses using gas sensors have been commercially available for several years, their narrow selectivity, their sensitivity towards moisture and the short life-time of the sensors can be serious limitations. Often the fluctuation in the performance may lead to difficulties reproducing data.

No specific training in MS required

     SMart Nose® allows the characterization of odors and volatile organic components of gaseous, liquid and solid samples by comparing fingerprints obtained by mass spectrometry. This method allows the direct analysis of the components in the headspace without separation, and the resulting mass spectra give a fingerprint specific to each sample. Although SMart Nose® is a fully automated instrument using all the features of mass spectrometry it does not require any specific training in this field.

INDEx (Inside Needle Dynamic Extraction)

     INDEx: The new pre-concentration device for Volatile Organic Compounds analysis. This device constitutes an interesting alternative to usual extraction methods. It consists of a needle containing an absorptive material as packed particles (patent pending). Read more about it...

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