Analytical Instrument Documents

A few needles from the holiday tree in the lobby of our Peabody office were extracted with dichloromethane and analyzed with the JEOL GCmate GC/MS system. Components were identified by a library search of the mass spectra. The fragrance comes from a complex mixture of terpenes such as alpha-pinene (familiar pine aroma) and limonene (citrus aroma) and other compounds, such as maltol (fresh-baked bread aroma).

The GCmate and LCmate benchtop mass spectrometers can be fitted with an optional fast atom bombardment (FAB) ion source that provides a means for rapid and convenient analysis of polar or thermally labile molecules. The FAB source can be operated in positive and negative-ion mode, and it can be used for high-resolution or MS/MS measurements (with the linked scan MS/MS option). The LCmate can be fitted with an optional frit-FAB LC/MS interface, and an auto-probe has also been developed that can allow unattended analysis of up to 40 direct-probe FAB samples at a time. Some examples of FAB analysis with GCmate are shown here.

A high chemical background or the continuous introduction of a reference compound can make it difficult to locate and identify trace components in a total ion current chromatogram in a GC/MS or LC/MS experiment. The Shrader System for Windows™ software1 available with the JEOL GCmate, LCmate, and RSVP mass spectrometers provides a solution to this problem based on the Component Detection Algorithm (CODA), developed by Windig et. al.2 The CODA algorithm identifies significant peaks by comparing a smoothed, mean-subtracted reconstructed ion chromatogram (RIC) with the original RIC.

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is a convenient sample preparation method for extracting organic compounds from aqueous samples. The combination of SPME with gas chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry provides powerful capabilities for the analysis of alcoholic beverages. Two samples of Scotch whiskey and one tequila sample were sampled by using solid-phase microextraction for analysis by high-resolution GC/MS. Sample 1 was a blended 12-year old light Scotch whiskey, while sample 2 was a 12-year old single-malt light Scotch whiskey. The tequila sample was a popular brand that is widely sold in the USA. Compounds were extracted and identified by GC/MS with library search. Exact mass measurements provided elemental compositions for molecular ions and fragment ions.

Polychlorinated biphenyl’s (PCBs) have been in use in industry since the early 1900's. These compounds are relatively stable and have properties have led to their use in a variety of applications ranging from electrical insulators to flame retardants. Exposure to PCBs can cause irritation, acne, and rashes. PCBs have demonstrated carcinogenic activity in animal studies. Because of potentially adverse health effects, PCB manufacture was banned in the United States in the 1970's. Because of their stability, PCBs resist degradation and can accumulate in the environment. Quantities of PCBs also exist in transformers and capacitors and hazardous waste sites. Their volatility and thermal stability make PCBs suitable for analysis by GC/MS methods. However, lowresolution mass selected-ion monitoring (LRSIM) is not selective enough to unequivocally identify PCBs in complex mixtures. High-resolution SIM (HRSIM), available with the JEOL GCmate, provides additional selectivity which can greatly simplify the identification of PCBs in complex mixtures and environmental samples.

The Japanese government, through various guidelines and the JIS standard, regulates analytical methods for dioxins from preliminary treatment to data acquisition to data processing. The guidelines specify a high resolution gas chromatograph – high resolution mass spectrometer system (HRGC/HRMS) as a final analytical instrument and a resolution of 10,000 for the mass spectrometer. These methods, however, are quite costly if executed as the government recommends. Since the Law Concerning Special Measures Against Dioxins went into effect in January 2000, dioxin samples to be analyzed are expected to multiply in a few years to come. Researchers are concerned that the high cost of analysis per sample will affect the scope and quality of their studies. As a result, simplified methods for dioxin analysis are in dire need to streamline the analytical process and reduce the cost.

As "food safety" is recognized as an increasingly important issue on a global scale, many nations have their own regulations on residual agricultural chemicals in food. In Japan, the positive list system, which was enforced at the end of May 2006, stipulates a uniform standard of 10 ppb as a quantity that is considered safe for human health. Under the positive list system, more agricultural chemicals need to be examined, and as a result, techniques capable of accurately and collectively analyzing residual agricultural chemicals in food are in increasing demand. While mass spectrometry (MS) is known for its high detection sensitivity, MS/MS is becoming the mainstream of pesticide analysis for its superior sensitivity and selectivity. The JMS-TQ4000GC, JEOL’s latest GC-MS/MS, has a unique ion storage/ejection mechanism within the MS/MS collision cell and incorporates new firmware to support MS/MS analysis with up to 36,000 transitions. In this work, we report the stability of 8 pesticides that were added to spinach extract.

As "food safety" is recognized as an increasingly important issue on a global scale, many nations have their own regulations on residual agricultural chemicals in food. In Japan, the positive list system, which was enforced at the end of May 2006, stipulates a uniform standard of 10 ppb as a quantity that is considered safe for human health. Under the positive list system, more agricultural chemicals need to be examined, and as a result, techniques capable of accurately and collectively analyzing residual agricultural chemicals in food are in increasing demand. While mass spectrometry (MS) is known for its high detection sensitivity, MS/MS is becoming the mainstream of pesticide analysis for its superior sensitivity and selectivity. The JMS-TQ4000GC, JEOL’s latest GC-MS/MS system, has a unique ion storage/ejection mechanism within the MS/MS collision cell and incorporates new firmware to support MS/MS analysis with up to 36,000 transitions. In this work, we report the verified results for pesticide residues sensitivity in food using the JMS-TQ4000GC.

As "food safety" is recognized as an increasingly important issue on a global scale, many nations have their own regulations on residual agricultural chemicals in food. In Japan, the positive list system, which was enforced at the end of May 2006, stipulates a uniform standard of 10 ppb as a quantity that is considered safe for human health. Under the positive list system, more agricultural chemicals need to be examined, and as a result, techniques capable of accurately and collectively analyzing residual agricultural chemicals in food are in increasing demand. While mass spectrometry (MS) is known for its high detection sensitivity, MS/MS is becoming the mainstream of pesticide analysis for its superior sensitivity and selectivity. The JMS-TQ4000GC, JEOL’s latest GC-MS/MS, has a unique ion storage/ejection mechanism within the MS/MS collision cell and incorporates new firmware to support MS/MS analysis with up to 36,000 transitions. In this work, we performed quantitative analysis of residual agricultural chemicals in carrot extract using a JMS-TQ4000GC.

As "food safety" is recognized as an increasingly important issue on a global scale, many nations have their own regulations on residual agricultural chemicals in food. In Japan, the positive list system, which was enforced at the end of May 2006, stipulates a uniform standard of 10 ppb as a quantity that is considered safe for human health. Under the positive list system, more agricultural chemicals need to be examined, and as a result, techniques capable of accurately and collectively analyzing residual agricultural chemicals in food are in increasing demand. While mass spectrometry (MS) is known for its high detection sensitivity, MS/MS is becoming the mainstream of pesticide analysis for its superior sensitivity and selectivity. The JMS-TQ4000GC, JEOL’s latest GC-MS/MS, has a unique ion storage/ejection mechanism within the MS/MS collision cell and incorporates new firmware to support MS/MS analysis with up to 36,000 transitions. In this work, we performed quantitative analysis of residual agricultural chemicals in spinach extract using a JMS-TQ4000GC.