Abstract
A high-performance liquid chromatograph IT-TOF mass spectrometer (LCMS-IT-TOF) has been developed. The ion trap mass spectrometer (ITMS) has a feature of multi-stage MS/MS analysis. A time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-MS) has features of high mass resolution and high mass accuracy. LCMS-IT-TOF is a hybrid mass spectrometer that is configured as a combination of ITMS and TOF-MS, and has incorporated both features. To realize high sensitivity, the sample ion that is generated by an atmospheric-pressure ion source has to be efficiently transported to mass spectrometers, and ion loss during the multiple MS/MS must be avoided. To realize high mass resolution and high mass accuracy, efficient ion cooling, fast ion ejection from the ion trap with high reproducibility and high-performance reflectron are required. We report here on the details of individual core technology that are necessitated for the high-performance LCMS-IT-TOF instrument.
