Tandem Mass Spectrometry Experience

Mass spectrometry one of the key considerations and potential areas of apprehension for implementing liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry lc ms ms is staff training.

Tandem mass spectrometry experience. Tandem mass spectrometry is a chemistry technique that uses a machine to assess the levels of different substances in a sample. Liquid chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometry lc ms ms a type of tandem ms has been increasingly adopted by clinical laboratories in recent years. Tandem mass spectrometry ms ms tandem ms or ms ms msn is a technique to break down selected ions precursor ions into fragments product ions. A mass spectrometry technique using two ms ms or more mass analyzers.

A common use of tandem ms is the analysis of biomolecules such as proteins and peptides. The filters can be used in static or scanning mode to select a particular mass to charge m z. Screening blood spots for inborn errors of metabolism by electrospray tandem mass spectrometry with a microplate batch process and a computer algorithm for automated flagging of abnormal profiles. The fragments then reveal aspects of the chemical structure of the precursor ion.

With two in tandem the precursor ions are mass selected by a first mass analyzer and focused into a collision region where they are then fragmented into product ions which are then characterized by a second mass analyzer. This allows more complex mixtures to be analysed more readily. The number of laboratory staff with exposure to lc or ms ms is relatively limited and even fewer have experience with clinical applications of lc ms ms. Rashed ms bucknall mp little d awad a jacob m alamoudi m et al.

The introduction of tandem mass spectrometry ms ms in the 1990s for population based newborn screening has enabled health care providers to detect an increased number of metabolic disorders in a single process by using dried blood spot specimens routinely collected from newborns 13. The principle of tandem mass spectrometry tandem mass spectrometry is based on coupling mass spectrometers together in a series to analyze complex mixtures. The method uses two mass filters arranged sequentially with a collision cell between them. It achieves this by breaking down the molecular components of the sample into small pieces and measuring the mass of these pieces.

However in gc ms ms a tandem mass spectrometer is used which allows us to select specific analytes for individual fragmentation. The mass spectrometer used for gc ms ms uses a beam of electrons to ionise analytes but this instrument also has a mode where the electrons ionise an intermediate gas which then ionises the analyte in secondary reactions.