Sensors 2013, 13, 11923-11955; doi:10.3390/s130911923 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors Review PTR-MS in Italy: A Multipurpose Sensor with Applications in Environmental, Agri-Food and Health Science Luca Cappellin 1, Francesco Loreto 2,*, Eugenio Aprea 1, Andrea Romano 1, José Sánchez del Pulgar 1, Flavia Gasperi 1 and Franco Biasioli 1 1 Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM), Via E. Mach 1, San Michele all’Adige 38010, Italy; E-Mails:
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[email protected] (F.B.) 2 Institute of Agro-Environmental and Forest Biology, National Research Council, Via Salaria km 29, 300-00015 Monterotondo Scalo, Roma, Italy * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]. Received: 5 July 2013; in revised form: 23 August 2013 / Accepted: 27 August 2013 / Published: 9 September 2013 Abstract: Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry (PTR-MS) has evolved in the last decade as a fast and high sensitivity sensor for the real-time monitoring of volatile compounds. Its applications range from environmental sciences to medical sciences, from food technology to bioprocess monitoring. Italian scientists and institutions participated from the very beginning in fundamental and applied research aiming at exploiting the potentialities of this technique and providing relevant methodological advances and new fundamental indications. In this review we describe this activity on the basis of the available literature.