Mass spectrometry - Using mass spectrometers as detectors for chromatography: hyphenation

5 important questions on Mass spectrometry - Using mass spectrometers as detectors for chromatography: hyphenation

How can you combine GC with mass spectrometry?

No issue with the chromatographic methods: any GC method can be interfaced with an EI mass spectrometer, since the gas is totally removed before the ionization chamber

How can you combine LC with mass spectrometry?

The LC method has to be compatible with the ionization parameters, since the liquid phase is sprayed in the source, where ionization takes place: not all the LC techniques/solvents/additives can be interfaced with MS
Reversed Phase is
ok (organic + water + acid modifier is perfect for ESI)
Ion Exchange is not ok (too many salts in the eluent)
Normal Phase is also not ok (eluent not suitable for ionization)
HILIC is ok (same solvent system as RP)

What is a full scan (total ion current TIC)?

The chromatograms are generated collecting all the ions for every compound
Every molecule will have a full MS spectrum associated.

This is a untargeted analysis
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What is single ion monitoring (SIM)?

The chromatogram is generated only monitoring ions corresponding to the analytes of interest.
More selective and sensitive.
No MS spectrum for the compounds: no confirmation 

This is a targeted analysis

What is selected reaction monitoring (SRM)?


Targeted Analysis
  • A specific ion is selected in the first quadrupole, fragmented, and only a specific ion is selected by the third quadrupole to reach the detector.
  • Conceptually is like doing a Single Ion Monitoring in both quadrupoles.
  • Loss of all the data not acquired
  • The results is the detection of specific fragments which originates only from specific preselected compounds.
  • The advantage is the extreme sensitivity and specificity in complex mixtures.
  • If more than one ion is selected, the acquisition mode is called Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM)

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