FT-MS instrumentation

The Orbitrap is a new FT-MS instrument that has a more modest performance in comparison to the FT-ICR-MS. It achieves a maximum >100,000 resolution and... 

LC-TOF MS offers fuU-scan high sensitivity, high mass accuracy close to that provided by high-resolution Fourier-transform mass spectrometry (FT-MS) instruments (orbitrap and FT-ICR-MS). 

Tandem quadrupole and magnetic-sector mass spectrometers as well as FT-ICR and ion trap instruments have been employed in MS/MS experiments involving precursor/product/neutral relationships. Fragmentation can be the result of a metastable decomposition or collision-induced dissociation (CID). The purpose of this type of instrumentation is to identify, qualitatively or quantitatively, specific compounds contained in complex mixtures. This method provides high sensitivity and high specificity. The instrumentation commonly applied in GC/MS is discussed under the MS/MS Instrumentation heading, which appears earlier in this chapter. 

The essential instrumentation is divided into three parts (a) the pyrolyser, (b) the gas chromatograph and (c) the MS or FT-IR instruments. In this chapter interest focuses on pyrolysers as the other instruments are discussed elsewhere. 

With few exceptions, magnetic sector instruments are comparatively large devices capable of high resolution and accurate mass determination, and suited for a wide variety of ionization methods. Double-focusing sector instruments are the choice of MS laboratories with a large chemical diversity of samples. In recent years, there is a tendency to substitute these machines by TOE or by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) instruments. 

LITs capable of scanning, axial or radial excitation of ions, and precursor ion selection for MS/MS experiments [118,134-136] have lately been incorporated in commercial mass spectrometers (Fig. 4.39). The replacement of Q3 in a QqQ instrument with a scanning LIT, for example, enhances its sensitivity and offers new modes of operation (Applied Biosystems Q-Trap). Introduction of a scanning LIT [118,135] as MSI in front of an FT-ICR instrument (Thermo Electron LTQ-FT) shields the ultrahigh vacuum of the FT-ICR from collision gas and decomposition products in order to operate under optimum conditions. In addition, the LIT accumulates and eventually mass-selects ions for the next cycle while the ICR cell is still busy with the previous ion package. 

The particularity of the LIT-orbitrap instrument is the independent operation of the orbitrap and the LIT. Because high resolution requires longer transient time, further data can already be collected in the LIT at the same time. As an example accurate mass measurements of the precursor ion can be performed in the orbitrap while MS and MS spectra are recorded with the linear ion trap. The LIT-orbitrap has less resolution than a FT-ICR instrument with similar duty cycle, but its maintenance costs are far lower than for the FT-ICR. Both instruments will have a major impact in mainly qualitative analysis of low molecular weight compounds and macromolecules. 

Recent developments in delayed extraction TOF allow higher resolving power and mass accuracy, and this method in the reflector mode has been used for accurate measurement of the mass of several compounds including two prenylated flavonoids. However, the performance of the MALDI-TOF instrument was not better than those of the FAB and FT-ICR MS instruments, and insufficient to give acceptable accuracy for literature reporting. 

FT-ICR instruments are also capable of performing MS" experiments. The most popular method of ion activation is sustained off-resonance irradiation (SORI), where ions are excited to a larger cyclotron radius using rf energy, undergo collisions with a neutral gas pulsed into the cell and dissociate. Other methods are available, including infrared multiphoton dissociation (IRMPD)65 and electron capture dissociation (ECD)66 which is of particular value in glyco-peptide analysis (Section VIA). 

The MALDI-MS instrumentation used for IMS included MALDI-TOF, MALDI-Q-TOF, MALDI-TOF-TOF, MALDI-Q-Ion Mobility-TOFMS (MALDI-Q-IM-TOFMS) [113-117], MALDI-FT-ICR-MS, MALDI-Ion Trap [73, 118-120], and MALDI-QIT-TOF [121],... 

A third type of MS/MS instruments is a hybrid of tandem-in-space and tandem-in-time devices, including the Q-trap (QQ-2D-linear trap) [45] and the ion trap-FT-ICR (2D-linear ion trap-FT-ICR) [46]. The Q-trap takes the configuration of triple quadrupole, with the third quadrupole replaced by a 2D-linear ion trap. The uniqueness of this design is that the 2D-linear ion trap component can be used to perform either (a) a normal quadrupole scan function in the RF/DC mode or (b) a trap scan function by applying the RF potential to the quadrupole. It is well-suited for both qualitative and quantitative studies. In the case of ion Trap-FT-ICR, it combines ion accumulation and MS" features of a 2D-linear ion trap with excellent mass analysis capability (mass resolution, mass accuracy, and sensitivity) of FT-ICR. 

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