Development and applications of proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry for medicine

This thesis reports the use of Proton Transfer Reaction-Mass Spectrometry (PTR-MS) in the health sciences. Here we provide the details on volatiles emitted from the shisha paste and when shisha paste undergoes combustion follows on from this, the analyses of which are aided by GC-MS (Gas Chromothography-Mass Spectrometry) measurements. This work presents the first PTR-MS study of shisha smoking, a poster for which won the best poster award at the Breath Research Conference in Zürich 2016. Presented first is a preinvestigation of two key compounds, menthol and vanillin, expected in some shisha pastes to determine the product ions together with related compounds that have differences in their functional groups. Details on the reactions of H3O+ with several fluorinated anaesthetics are presented, with the objective to provide details on which product ions should be monitored in a planned study of washout characteristics of anaesthetics following surgery. Breath washout characteristics for volatiles present in the blood following the ingestion of a peppermint oil capsule are presented, being part of a much larger European study dealing with breath standardisation. Here we present details on intra- and inter- individuals variability. The final results chapter looks at volatiles in breath samples of young men who have undergone a head trauma