Product development, hyphenated

In direct insertion techniques, reproducibility is the main obstacle in developing a reliable analytical technique. One of the many variables to take into account is sample shape. A compact sample with minimal surface area is ideal [64]. Direct mass-spectrometric characterisation in the direct insertion probe is not very quantitative, and, even under optimised conditions, mass discrimination in the analysis of polydisperse polymers and specific oligomer discrimination may occur. For nonvolatile additives that do not evaporate up to 350 °C, direct quantitative analysis by thermal desorption is not possible (e.g. Hostanox 03, MW 794). Good quantitation is also prevented by contamination of the ion source by pyrolysis products of the polymeric matrix. For polymer-based calibration standards, the homogeneity of the samples is of great importance. Hyphenated techniques such as LC-ESI-ToFMS and LC-MALDI-ToFMS have been developed for polymer analyses in which the reliable quantitative features of LC are combined with the identification power and structure analysis of MS. 

From Analytical Chemists, a partial answer to this problem was the development and validation of new methods that permit an improvement in terms of productivity ( high-throughput ), sensitivity and selectivity, especially using very recent hyphenated analytical assays, such as HPLC-MS/MS, GC-MS/MS or further complex couplings, that can provide more complete information in a single analysis. 

ABSTRACT Particular elements can, even at trace levels, intact product quality, deposit formation, and regulatory compliance. Characterization of trace and ultra-trace level constituents in aqueous and/or organic matrices has often required the need to employ more than one analytical technique. In recent years, improvements in ICP-MS technologies have made it a preferred technique for multi-element trace level characterization in a variety of matrices. Coupling ICP-MS with various liquid chromatography techniques has enabled a unique capability to speciate organo-metallics at ppb levels. This paper will show how ICP-MS has been successfully used to measure ppb levels in refinery effluent streams. It will demonstrate how hyphenated ICP-MS techniques assisted in development of bioremediation options for selenium removal in wastewater treatment plants. 

The first two commercially available LC-MS interfaces were the moving-belt interface and the direct liquid introduction interface. These hyphenated techniques promoted pharmacological research at several stages of drug development. The polar pharmaceutical compounds that were under research in pharmacological experiments, their polar by-products from chemical synthesis or even the very polar... 

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