Detection of several volatile organic compounds through Ar ⁺ induced chemical ionisation using inductively coupled plasma-tandem mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS)

, were observed, suggesting that while soft ionisation was possible, ion reaction-induced-fragmentation and hard ionisation also occurred. To demonstrate the analytical capability of the present technique, volatile components released from coffee beans were subjected to the present mass spectrometric analysis. Many ion peaks originating from VOCs were detected from the coffee beans. The data obtained here demonstrated that ICP-MS equipped with a CRC can become an effective tool for analyzing both elements and molecules.