Multireflecting gas chromatography‐multireflecting time‐of‐flight mass spectrometer with high dynamic range

• Published in: Rapid communications in mass spectrometry Vol. 38; no. 23; pp. e9909 - n/a
• Main Authors: Vorobyev, Aleksey V., Khasin, Yury I., Makarov, Vasily V., Kirillov, Sergey N., Verenchikov, Anatoly N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 15-12-2024
• Subjects: Dynamic range; Gas chromatography; Ion beams; Mass spectrometers; Mass spectrometry; Sensitivity analysis
• ISSN: 0951-4198; 1097-0231; 1097-0231
• DOI: 10.1002/rcm.9909

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) is a cornerstone technique for analyses of volatile and semivolatile compounds, constantly evolving to meet new challenges. The adoption of time‐of‐flight mass spectrometers (TOFMS) has enhanced GC–MS with faster spectral acquisition and broader mass coverage, enabling rapid GC separations. Multireflecting TOFMS (MRT) further improves resolution compared to traditional single‐reflecting TOFMS, facilitating the detection of minor analytes within complex matrices. This paper presents a significant improvement in MRT sensitivity and dynamic range achieved through an ion beam compression within the ion guide and the use of a conventionally oriented orthogonal accelerator. Sensitivity is improved to 100 000 ion/pg at a resolution of R = 25,000, enabling the detection of low fg analyte quantities within 3 μg of matrix material into MS. The demonstrated linear dynamic range exceeding 6 orders of magnitude potentially enables even deeper exploration of complex mixtures with a bench top instrument.