Instruments
OPEN ACCESS INSTRUMENTS
Agilent 6120 Quadrupole LC/MS with Multimode source A single quadrupole instrument capable of unit mass resolution to 1500 amu. The instrument is equipped with a Multimode source capable of simultaneous APCI and ESI ionization in both positive and negative ion modes. Samples that ionize in solution are generally analyzed in ESI-only mode; those that do not are generally analyzed in APCI-only mode. Samples with poorly defined or unknown characteristics can be analyzed in Multimode combining ESI and APCI in a single run. The instrument is configured for either flow injection or HPLC introduction of samples from an automatic sampler. Samples with unique sensitivities (organometallics or air-sensitive samples, for example) can be introduced from a syringe prepared under conditions controlled by the user. The mass spectrometer is equipped with a fraction collection system allowing peak collection based on a specific mass, total ion current, UV absorbance, or a combination the three. Preparative chromatography can be accommodated at flow rates up to 5 mL/min.
Agilent 6210 Time-of-Flight LC/MS A time-of-flight instrument that is capable of unit mass resolution to 13,000 amu. This instrument is equipped with a high pressure LC binary bump and a dual nebulizer ESI source. The spectral acquisition rate can be as high as 40 spectra per second. As reported by Agilent, the mass accuracy is less than 2 ppm with an internal mass reference solution. This instrument is capable of producing both low and high resolution (to 4 decimal places) mass determinations as well as LC/MS separations with dioarray UV traces. Softwares MassHunter and EasyAccess are setup for users to walk up and login samples with few basic information entries.
Hewlett Packard (Agilent) HP6890GC/5973MSD GC/MS equipped with HP-1 30m x 0.25µm capillary column operating in the splitless mode that works for small, volatile and semi-volatile molecules. The ionization technique is electron impact (EI) and carrier gas is Helium. The acquisition software is ChemStation and an open access software is setup to allow users to choose a set of methods ranging from low to high molecular masses (50 to 800) and at different ramping rates. NIST library is also available for references.
Applied BioSystems DE Pro MALDI A linear MALDI TOF instrument with delay extraction capable of unit mass resolution to at least 1200 AMU, and lower resolution beyond that. In principle there is no upper mass limit. MALDI is generally used to characterize nonvolatile compounds (peptides and proteins, for example) and produces mainly singly charged ions in both positive and negative modes. MALDI TOF is a “gentle” ionization technique, and can be used to produce intact molecular ions when other means of analysis result in fragmentation. Samples are prepared and spotted onto a sample plate off-line, then introduced into the instrument. Data collection for each sample is rapid, usually a matter of only a few minutes.
Waters Quattro micro GC/MS/MS A triple quadrupole mass spectrometer with an Agilent 6890 GC and CTC CombiPAL autosampler has a mass range from 4 to 1500 amu. Headspace sampling allows direct volatile compounds injections. The ionization techniques are electron impact (EI) with carrier gas Helium and Chemical Impact (CI) with methane. It can be used for many methods such as multiple reaction monitoring (MRM), pproduct ion, precursor ion and neutral loss/gain. Masslynx is the acquistition software and OAlogin is the open access software.
FEE FOR SERVICE INSTRUMENTS
Applied Biosystems Voyager RP MALDI A linear MALDI TOF instrument capable of unit mass resolution to at least 1200 AMU, and lower resolution beyond that. In principle there is no upper mass limit. MALDI is generally used to characterize nonvolatile compounds (peptides and proteins, for example) and produces mainly singly charged ions in both positive and negative modes. MALDI TOF is a “gentle” ionization technique, and can be used to produce intact molecular ions when other means of analysis result in fragmentation. Samples are prepared and spotted onto a sample plate off-line, then introduced into the instrument. Data collection for each sample is rapid, usually a matter of only a few minutes.
Micromass LCT An electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometer equipped with a HP1100 LC system and a syringe pump. This instrument can be used to measure low and high resolution masses in both positive and negative modes. It is suitable for small to large organic molecules ranging from 100 m/z to 3000 m/z including peptides, proteins and DNA samples. LC/MS can also be carried out using this instrument. The acquisition software is MassLynx.
Waters Q-Tof micro LC/MS/MS The Waters Q-Tof micro LC/MS/MS system consists of a time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometer equipped with both a normal and a nano ESI sources, Waters 2695 HPLC, Eksigent nanoLC and Waters Masslynx software. The instrument features two systems, normal LC/MS/MS and nano LC/MS/MS. For normal LC/MS/MS system, it has full-scan LC/MS/MS performance, the automated exact mass measurement in both MS and MS/MS modes; For the nanoLC-ESI-MS/MS system, the flow rate is from 50 to 1000 nL per minute. The great selectivity gains are observed. The sample consumption is reduced up to a few fmol for 4-mer oligonucleotide in the negative mode. The instrument is configured for either flow injection or HPLC introduction of samples from an automatic sampler. The powerful data-collection and processing tools enhance the quality and timeliness of analytical results. The Q-Tof micro is used extensively in several application areas such as, metabolite profiling, proteomics, DNA, DNA adducts and food safely as well as general analytical studies.
ADDITIONAL LC SYSTEMS
Agilent 1100 HPLC An analytical scale HPLC with a fraction collector which can be used to separate and analyze components within a chemical mixture. The injection volume of the autosampler is 1-100 uL. The pump flow rate is 0.1-2 mL/min. Chemstation software is used for control and data analysis.
Applied Biosystems Vision preparative HPLC A LC system is used for separating and analyzing large scale of chemical mixture. The AFC injection system can inject as much as 1-5 mL samples and the typical flow rate during the run is 10-20 mL/min.
