JEOL USA announces that it has been awarded a major contract by the US Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection for five JEOL AccuTOF-DART Direct Analysis in Real Time, Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometers. These instruments will enhance the analytical capabilities of five US Customs and Border Protection laboratories across the country. Three additional labs already installed the AccuTOF-DART in recent years, bringing the total usage to eight across the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico.

The AccuTOF-DART systems will be used by CBP scientists as a non-destructive, rapid means to analyze many types of forensic samples including drugs, suspected controlled substances, unknown substances and general organic materials. The AccuTOF-DART systems will also allow the laboratories to quickly screen imported merchandise entering the United States that may violate Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders.

The AccuTOF-DART mass spectrometer allows the user to immediately determine chemical composition and produce high-resolution, accurate mass spectra by simply placing a sample in its native form between the DART ion source and the AccuTOF mass spectrometer inlet. Little to no sample preparation is required, unlike traditional analysis with mass spectrometry.

The DART was invented at JEOL USA by Cody and Laramee specifically for integration with the AccuTOF and this technology is used routinely by many crime and forensics labs for investigations or screening.

“We are very gratified to be supporting this Federal Government Agency with JEOL’s AccuTOF-DART mass spec technology, which is ideal for their applications where fast answers and exact identification of a drug, unknown substances, or imported materials including foods and food additives, and even the origin of petroleum products are needed,” said Michael Frey, Ph.D., JEOL USA Analytical Instruments Product Manager. “We believe the specialized ability to rapidly identify or confirm identification of samples without alteration will greatly assist the US DHS in their efforts to track the entry of illegal substances into the United States.”