High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS)

High Performance Liquid Chromatography LC/MS is an analytical chemistry technique that combines the physical separation capabilities of liquid chromatography with the mass analysis capabilities of mass spectrometry. The combination of these two powerful techniques gives the analytical chemists at Crane Engineering the ability to analyze virtually any molecular species including thermally labile, non-volatile, and high molecular weight species with sensitivity and specificity. With our Thermo Finnegan LTQ equipment we are capable of providing structure, molecular weight, and quantitative information about a specific analyte.

How LC/MS works:

Samples are carried by a liquid mobile phase through porous columns that separate the different components in solution (liquid chromatography).
The separated compounds, still carried by the mobile phase, are sprayed into a chamber in such a way that the compounds are vaporized and ionized.
The ionized vapor of each component is detected on the basis of its mass and charge (mass spectrometry).

Uses:

Analysis of surfactants, polymer additives, pharmaceuticals, proteins, lipids, vitamins, sugars, etc.
Structure determination of unknown reaction products through analysis of reactant chemicals.

Application examples:

Analyze preservatives and sweeteners in beverages.
Prepare assay of drug additives in oral tablets.
Determine antioxidants in plastics.

Sample guidelines for LC/MS:

Analytes of interest must be soluble in a solvent.
LC/MS does not have the ability to identify unknowns implicitly. Standards or a known base chemical structure are needed for structure identification of a compound.
Detection limit is typically ppb level.

Please contact Tom Gardner, Ph. D., for more specific details on sample guidelines and LC/MS analysis techniques.