We investigate atomic and molecular emission of laser-ablated nitromethane in an Ar or N 2 buffer gas, with fs laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. The electronic bands of CN, C 2 , and NH molecules and the atomic transition lines of C I, N I, and H α are identified. The time series of the emissions are obtained, and the formation mechanisms of CN and C 2 are deduced. The CN violet system, the B 2 Σ + -X 2 Σ + (0-0) band, is chosen to extract plasma temperature from the experimental spectra.
Furans, recognized as carcinogenic contaminants generated during thermal food processing, pose significant food safety concerns, necessitating sensitive and cost-effective detection methods. Traditional GC-FID/MS methods are often constrained by high costs and complex instrumentation. Herein, a point discharge molecular emission spectrometer (PD-MES) was developed as a highly sensitive GC detector, specifically by monitoring CN molecular emission at 388.3 nm for the analysis of furans in food samples. Furans were extracted using headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) prior to detection. Compared to conventional carbon atomic emission at 193.0 nm, the CN-based method demonstrated up to a 211.42-fold improvement in sensitivity and achieved detection limits of 0.02–0.08 ng/g with excellent precision (RSD < 4.9 %). Practical validation across ten diverse food matrices yielded satisfactory recoveries (83.4 %–114.5 %). This system offers a robust, highly sensitive, reliable, and economical alternative for the routine monitoring of furan compounds in foods, particularly in resource-limited settings.