The research in the areas of explosives detection and gunshot residue detection has demonstrated a high sensitivity of the device making it applicable for the collection of low concentration volatiles across a range of applications. The proposed technology (Capillary Microextractor of Volatiles, CMV) was developed for the detection of forensic related compounds including drugs, explosive residues, ignitable liquid residues and gunshot residues. CMV is an inexpensive way to bring sophisticated analytical chemistry capabilities to everyone. Potential applications of the CMV include an active learning toolkit to teach middle and high-school students the science of sampling and detection of small quantities of volatiles in our environment and will include a social network that connects users and provides air quality data around the world. Environmental applications include the use of CMV to sample air suspected of containing hazardous chemicals in the air we breathe, including carcinogens. Biomedical applications include the use of CMV to sample human breath to detect disease markers in a consumer kit, for the first time. The CMV device is composed of sorbent-coated glass microfibers with an ultra-high surface area that can absorb volatiles when air is dynamically sampled through the device. The CMV is small (2cm x 2mm), inexpensive and very easy to use to sample and pre-concentrate sub-ng quantities of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from air in less than 1 minute. The CMV is easily coupled to a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer and the interpretation of the analytical results can be standardized for specific applications including indoor air quality monitoring, forensic analysis, monitoring of chemical exposure and analysis of breath biomarkers for medical diagnosis and disease monitoring. The commercial advantages of CMV include single-use, simple and inexpensive sampling of ambient air or breath, where very low levels of target compounds are present. The CMV will also be marketed as a research laboratory consumable to scientists for air sampling. Specific applications will be developed for use by the general public that include analytical services and interpretation of results in order to make analytical chemistry more accessible to everyone interested in conducting air sampling. This team plans to market very specific application test kits for monitoring volatile compounds in indoor air, as educational tools to teach chemistry and for human breath air testing.
