Multiplexed sprayer interface

The first reported case of timesharing for a mass spectrometer9 involved the design of an Ionspray interface with multiple sprayers to support the analysis of effluents from multiple columns. This approach led to the development of a multiplexed electrospray interface (MUX)10 using an LC/MS interface and multiple (identical) sprayers linked to a HPLC system and a spinning screen to allow the output of only a single sprayer to enter the MS (Figure 4.5). The injections of the HPLC systems... 

The MS instrumentation is the most expensive part of the LC-MS system, hence efforts to improve the throughput of the LC-MS analysis often involve the use of parallel multiple columns that feed into a single mass spectrometer. Zeng and Kassel [99] developed an automated parallel analytical/preparative LC-MS workstation to increase the throughput for the characterization and purification of combinatorial libraries. The system incorporates two columns operated in parallel for both LC-MS analytical and preparative LC-MS purifications. A multiple-sprayer ESI interface was designed to support flows from multiple columns. The system is under complete software control and delivers the crude samples to the two HPLC columns from a single autosampler. The authors demonstrated characterization of more than 200 compounds per instrument per day, and purification of more than 200 compounds per instrument per night. De Biasi et al. [100] described a four-channel multiplexed... 

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