Launch of Triple Quadrupole LC-MS with New Levels of Sensitivity

Thermo Fisher Scientific have introduced a new-generation triple quadrupole liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) platform designed to transform quantitation experiments with extreme sensitivity, productivity, precision and usability.

The platform, which includes the new Thermo Scientific Quantiva triple-stage quadrupole mass spectrometer and the new Thermo Scientific Endura triple-stage quadrupole mass spectrometer, made its debut at the ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics.

The TSQ Quantiva triple quadrupole mass spectrometer employs Active Ion Management (AIM) to optimise ion creation and transmission from the source to the detector, resulting in extreme sensitivity. This enhanced level of sensitivity greatly improves results in applications such as peptide quantitation, metabolomics and biopharmaceutical QA/QC compared to previous Thermo Fisher triple quads. In company laboratories, AIM-enhanced systems have measured 70 attograms of verapamil in plasma on column with excellent precision, an unprecedented level of performance.

The TSQ Quantiva MS system is also extremely productive, with the ability to perform 500 SRM experiments per second, and positive/negative polarity switching in 20ms with no signal loss. Productivity is enhanced by a new Ion Beam Guide and Neutral Blocker that helps keep components free of contamination and eases maintenance when it is required. The TSQ Quantiva MS has been shown using synthetic serum stress tests to operate approximately three times longer between maintenance intervals than the company’s previous best systems, without loss of signal.

The TSQ Endura triple quadrupole mass spectrometer shares much of the advanced technology of the TSQ Quantiva MS, but was designed to deliver higher uptime than any competitive triple quadrupole instrument. It was built for workhorse applications requiring trace level quantitation, such as food testing, environmental analysis and pharmaceutical QA/QC.

The TSQ Quantiva MS system uses the same source housings as the company’s new Orbitrap Fusion Tribrid LC-MS system, which was also introduced at ASMS. Both are designed for plug-and-play exchange between each other. Gas and electrical connections are made automatically when sources are installed, and ESI, APCI, and nanospray housings and probes are automatically recognised by the system.