Application of ion mobility spectrometry in cases of forensic interest

Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) has been known as an analytical technique since the late 1960s and early 1970s. To date, it has been successfully utilized for the detection of environmental pollutants, warfare agents, explosives, herbicides, pesticides, petroleum products as well as for the detection of prescription and illicit drugs. In this paper the authors describe the use of the IMS technology in cases of forensic interest in Salzburg, Austria. We report the use of the IMS methodology for the rapid analysis of hallucinogenic mushroom material as well as for the analysis of samples taken after an explosion. A new application of the IMS technology for the analysis of postmortem sweat samples for drugs is also presented.