Instruments

Our MS instruments are based on various and complementary configurations, allowing the implementation of a wide range of studies and analyses for small organic molecules.

Typical configurations available within MSsmall Expertise Centre include Triple Quadrupole, Ion Trap, hybrid Triple Quadrupole Ion Trap, hybrid Quadrupole Time-of-Flight, hybrid Quadrupole Orbitrap mass spectrometers, etc.

• Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometers
  Triple quadrupole mass spectrometers (QqQ) are tandem MS instruments in which the first and third quadrupoles act as mass filters and the second causes fragmentation of the analyte through interaction with a collision gas. These mass spectrometers are commonly used in the selected reaction monitoring (SRM), often referred to as multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode, allowing enhanced sensitivity and selectivity. Triple quadrupole mass spectrometers (eg. Xevo TQ-XS, TSQ Vantage, etc.) are used in many of our targeted quantitative analyses.

• Ion Trap Mass Spectrometers
  Using ion trap mass spectrometers, ions can be stored or manipulated in various ways such as isolation or fragmentation. Ion traps (e.g. the LTQ XL linear Ion Trap) are very interesting for their ability to perform multiple-stage MS (MSⁿ) in which fragmentation of the analyte can be performed repeatedly, providing useful structural information for qualitative analysis.  
• Hybrid Triple Quadrupole Ion Trap Mass Spectrometers
  The combination of triple quadrupole MS with Ion trap technology in one instrument configuration (e.g. QTRAP mass spectrometer) is particularly interesting because this instrument retains the classical triple quadrupole functionalities such as SRM, while also providing access to sensitive full scan experiments and enhanced resolution. The QTRAP mass spectrometers also have MS³ capabilities, which can be implemented to provide useful structural information or to provide increased selectivity for quantitative analysis through selection of a second-generation fragment as the analyte signal.  
• Hybrid Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometers
  These mass spectrometers combine a quadrupole (Q) and a time-of-flight (TOF) high resolution mass analyzer. The high mass resolution allows for the detection of thousands of compounds in a single analytical run and the determination of the elemental compositions of many of these. Additional information for identification is obtained by operating in tandem MS mode. Some of our Q-TOF instruments are equipped with an ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) cell. This configuration allows tandem MS to be combined with ion mobility, thus permitting the analytes to be differentiated not only by their mass-to-charge ratio, but also by their shape and size. We implement these Q-TOF instruments (e.g. the Synapt G2 Si) in various studies involving the global/untargeted profiling and identification of the analytes present in samples. Examples of such studies include fungal secondary metabolite profiling and plant secondary metabolite profiling studies.  
• Hybrid Quadrupole Orbitrap Mass Spectrometers
  Orbitrap mass spectrometers offer very high resolution and mass accuracy. As is the case with the Q-TOFs, hybrid Quadrupole Orbitrap (Q-Orbitrap) configurations such as the Q Exactive mass spectrometer combine quadrupole precursor selection with high resolution analysis to allow the detection, identification and confirmation of large numbers of analytes in samples. Our Q Exactive mass spectrometers are used for a broad variety of applications including metabolomics, lipidomics, organic micropollutants, impurity profiling studies, etc.

     Find out more about the specific MS instruments available in the MSsmall Expertise Centre.