CHROMATOGRAPHY, Vol. 27 (2006), No. 3, pp. 135-140
Technical Review
Accurate Mass Measurement on Real Chromatographic Time Scale with a Single Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer
Yongdong Wang1* and Harry Prest2
1Cerno Bioscience, Danbury, CT 06810, USA
2Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA 95051, USA
Abstract:
On a unit mass resolution mass spectrometer such as a single quadrupole MS, it has been widely accepted that the mass (m/z) can only be
measured to 0.1−0.5 Da accuracy, allowing for only rough mass confirmation for qualitative analysis. A novel mass spectral calibration technique,
MSIntegrityTM implemented in MassWorksTM, is introduced to comprehensively calibrate not only the mass axis but also the mass spectral
peak shape function. With this comprehensive mass spectral calibration, a high level of mass accuracy on the level of 0.00x Da can be
achieved even at unit mass resolution on a true chromatographic time scale, which will now enable the elemental composition determination
of unknown ions or ion fragments using a conventional mass spectrometer hyphenated with chromatographic separation. This identification
capability is further enhanced by a uniquely accurate approach for elemental composition determination through the use of isotope distribution
information, CLIPSTM.
Keywords:
Accurate mass, mass spectrometry (MS), unit mass resolution, identification, elemental composition, isotope distribution, calibration
