PYROLYSIS-GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY-MASS SPECTROMETRY - DETECTION OF BIOLOGICAL WARFARE AGENTS

Curie-point wire and quartz tube pyrolysis (Py) devices coupled to short column (2 and 5 meter) gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) systems are investigated for their ability to extract microbiologically-useful information from unprocessed, underivatized whole microorganisms. The U.S. Department of the Army is sponsoring the development of a Chemical, Biological Mass Spectrometer (CBMS) system to autonomously operate in fielded situations. As such, data are presented that are relevant to the design of a fieldable device such as the CBMS system. Ubiquitous (e.g. nucleic acid bases) as well as more highly specific (e.g. certain lipids) biological constituents are addressed for their use in microorganism detection and characterization by Py-GC/MS. The need for rapid generation of useful information is presented as well as the desire for a simplified graphical representation suitable for direct interpretation as opposed to purely computerized ''black box'' pattern recognition methods.