# Laser Ablation APCI-HRMS Method for the Analysis of Cultural Heritage Materials

## TL;DR

A new laser ablation method allows analyzing cultural heritage materials with minimal damage and high chemical detail.

## Contribution

A novel LA-APCI-HRMS system was developed for non-invasive analysis of organic materials on cultural heritage artifacts.

## Key findings

- The LA-APCI-HRMS system produced high-quality mass spectra from solid surfaces with minimal damage.
- The method was successfully tested on mock-up paint and varnish layers and a real-life sample.
- The technique shows potential for use in cultural heritage and other fields like forensics.

## Abstract

Analyzing
cultural heritage (CH) materials, particularly organic
substances, is challenging due to their complex chemical composition.
A key requirement in such analyses is the use of analytical techniques
that cause minimal damage to the artifact while providing the maximum
amount of chemical information about the materials. Chromatographic
and mass spectrometric (MS) techniques give valuable information about
components of the organic materials, but these typically require a
microsample from the object, along with specific preparation and instrumental
conditions. For CH artifacts, techniques that work directly on the
surface, thereby causing minimal damage, are far more desirable. We
have developed a 355 nm optical fiber-coupled laser ablation (LA)
atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI)-MS system that enables
the analysis of organic material directly from the solid surface of
the artifact under ambient conditions with minimal surface damage.
In this study, we coupled LA with APCI-Fourier transform ion cyclotron
resonance (FT-ICR)-MS. The main aim was to evaluate the effectiveness
of the developed LA-APCI high-resolution (HR)­MS system for the analysis
of five handmade mock-up materials of different paint and varnish
layers and one real-life sample. The results demonstrate the analytical
potential of the LA-APCI-HRMS technique, as high-quality and identifiable
mass spectra were obtained for most of the analyzed materials. In
the future, the developed LA-APCI-HRMS technique could be applied
not only to cultural heritage but also to other fields (e.g., forensics,
material science, etc.).