FAB MS has proven to be a powerful ionisation technique for the
characterisation of polar and non-volatile compounds. It has also been used as
research tool in microbiology. The use of underivatised extracts, small volume
of sample and rapidity of analysis are some important characteristics of FAB
MS when used to analyse complex mixtures of polar lipids. Differences are
observed between phospholipid analogue profiles of different species of
bacteria and yeasts when analysed by FAB MS
