High Dynamic Range of GC MS using Orthogonal Injection into
Multi-Reflecting Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer
Abstract
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is a cornerstone technique
for analyses of semi-volatile compounds, constantly evolving to meet new
challenges. The adoption of Time-of-flight mass spectrometers (TOF MS)
has enhanced GC-MS with faster spectral acquisition and broader mass
coverage, enabling rapid GC separations and even faster two-dimensional
GCxGC analyses. Multi-reflecting TOF MS (MRT) further improves
resolution compared to traditional TOF MS, facilitating the detection of
minor analytes within complex matrices. This paper presents a
significant improvement in MRT sensitivity and dynamic range achieved
through a strong 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 at 10 ng/s
matrix fluxes. The demonstrated linear dynamic range exceeding 6 orders
of magnitude potentially enables even deeper exploration of complex
mixtures, which is crucial for ultra-trace analyses and metabolomic
studies.