MASS SPECTROMETRY

The development of fused silica open capillary columns, high speed digital computers, and quadrupole mass filters made the mass spectrometer the ideal GC detector and GC-MS the ideal analysis technique fort volatile and semi-volatile compounds in the 1980s. The combination of high resolution GC separation and the two dimensional nature of MS data provided the ability to simultaneously perform qualitative and quantitative analysis in a single experiment. The potential weakness of GC-MS existed in the high energy ionization which could yield spectra of limited specificity.

The development of tandem MS (MS/MS) and electrospray ionization (ESI) at the start of the 21st century created the ideal analysis technique for ionic and highly polar organic molecules and in many cases a better tool for semi-volatile analysis than GC-MS. The combination of a “soft” ionization technique and the ability to control fragmentation through collisional activation provides the skilled analyst with an easily optimizable analysis tool. Tandem MS is the ideal analytical tool for the quantitative analysis of organic compounds in a complex matrix

Resolution Sciences LLC can provide consulting services for method development and validation of GC-MS and LC-MS/MS.

Resolution Sciences LLC can also provide customized training in quadrupole mass spectrometry including how to interpret the mass spectra of unidentified compounds from data acquired using GC or LC sample introduction. The ability to interpret the data in a mass spectrum can be of importance for those compounds that are not present in spectra libraries.

Mass Spectrometry: Courses