Coated blade spray-mass spectrometry for rapid screening: A tutorial

Coated blade spray-mass spectrometry (CBS-MS) integrates solid-phase microextraction (SPME) with ambient mass spectrometry (AMS), providing a powerful approach for analyzing trace analytes in complex sample matrices. In CBS-MS, analytes are extracted and enriched into a thin layer of coating material on a stainless-steel blade. Afterwards, a small volume of solvent is applied directly to the coating surface, enabling rapid desorption and subsequent electrospray ionization (ESI) from the blade tip under high voltage. By eliminating chromatographic separation and utilizing high-throughput extraction formats, CBS-MS enables rapid screening with total analysis times as short as 10 s per sample. The use of matrix-compatible coating materials facilitates direct analysis of complex biological matrices-including plasma, urine, whole blood, and tissue-without additional cleanup steps. This tutorial highlights the key features of CBS-MS, provides detailed guidance for its implementation, and offers perspectives on future developments of this emerging technology.