1) Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is a hyphenated technique that combines gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify different molecules within a sample.
2) GC separates the components in a mixture through partitioning between a mobile and stationary phase, while MS identifies molecules by detecting their mass.
3) Common ionization techniques used in GC-MS include electron impact and chemical ionization. Mass analyzers like quadrupole, ion trap, and time-of-flight are used to detect ions.
4) GC-MS has applications in pharmaceutical analysis, forensics, anti-doping testing, and newborn screening for inborn errors of metabolism.