Analytical Instrument Documents

The chemical composition of herbs and spices can vary dramatically between different species and different growing conditions. Herbs grown under different conditions that have different essential oil compositions are referred to as chemotypes. Basil is an herb that has widely varying chemotypes. The difference between basil leaves from two different sources was easily observed by using DART. A leaf from a basil plant purchased at a grocery store was compared with a leaf from a Vietnamese restaurant. A small particle from each leaf was analyzed placed in front of the DART source. Mass spectra were obtained within seconds. Elemental compositions were confirmed by exact masses and accurate isotopic abundance measurements.

Mass Spectrometry (MS) is one of the fastest-growing areas in analytical instrumentation. The use of mass spectrometry in support of synthetic, organic, and pharmaceutical chemistry is well established. Mass spectrometry is also used in materials science, environmental research, and forensic chemistry. It has also evolved into one of the core methods used in biotechnology. However, currently available ion sources place extreme restrictions on the speed and convenience of sample analysis by mass spectrometry. Here we report a method for using mass spectrometry to instantaneously analyze gases, liquids, and solids in open air at ground potential under ambient conditions. Traditional ion sources used in mass spectrometry require the introduction of samples into a high vacuum system.

A new MALDI-TOF/TOF system with monoisotopic precursor selection was applied to the analysis of triacylglycerols in an olive oil sample. Monoisotopic precursor selection made it possible to obtain product-ion mass spectra without interference from species that differed by a single double bond. Complete structure determination of all triacylglycerols, including structural isomers, was made possible by interpreting the charge-remote fragmentation resulting from high-energy collision-induced dissociation (CID) of the sodiated triacylglycerols.

A Japanese lacquer film called "Urushi" is a natural polymer that has been used as a paint and adhesive for living-wares and craft-wares for approximately 8,000 years. "Urushi" has a complex structure that researchers are trying to understand using pyrolysis-gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (Py/GC/MS) system. Recently, we developed a new gas chromatograph/high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometer (GC/HR-TOFMS) system that can be used for comprehensive two-dimensional GC (GCxGC) measurements. Additionally, we have developed a unique combination electron ionization/photoionization (EI/PI) ion source that can be used with this GC/HR-TOFMS system. In this work, we measured "Urushi" samples using this unique Py/GCxGC/HR-TOFMS system in combination with our new combination EI/PI ion source.

JEOL introduced the DART ion source in 2005, and the technology quickly gained recognition, winning both the Pittcon Editor’s Gold Award and the R&D 100 Award. Since that time nearly 400 papers have been published by chemists using the AccuTOF-DART. The introduction of DART made it possible for the first time to carry out atmospheric pressure ionization for analysis of samples in open air.

A gas-chromatograph mass spectrometer (GC-MS) is a combined analyzer that has superior ability in analyzing organic compounds qualitatively and quantitatively. The first part, gas chromatograph, separates the compounds included in a sample (mixture), then the second part, mass spectrometer, obtains mass spectra of the compounds to carry out qualitative analysis. Quantitative analysis can be carried out as well from the peak area of the mass chromatogram of the compound. As a mass spectrometer of a GC-MS system, several types of mass spectrometers are on the market, such as magnetic field, quadrupole (QMS), ion trap (ITD), and time-of-flight (TOF). Each mass spectrometer has its own features and applications.

Tandem mass spectrometry is a powerful tool for polymer characterization. It can obtain information about polymer end groups, repeating structures (linear, cyclic, or branched), and copolymerization. High-energy collision–induced dissociation (HE-CID) is a fragmentation method that is available only in tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF–TOF). The informative fragmentation channels, which are difficult to observe with commonly used low-energy CID, are often observable in HE-CID spectra. In MSTips 270, we proposed a method to visualize this abundant structural information and enable intuitive analysis using the “Remainders of KM” (RKM) plot method. In this report, we applied the method to analyze polyethylene oxide (PEO) with different end groups.

The JMS-S3000 “SpiralTOF™” is a MALDI-TOFMS that incorporates an innovative SpiralTOF ion optics system. This system is available with a TOF-TOF option that can acquire high-energy collision-induced dissociation (CID) product ion spectra for monoisotopically selected precursor ions. In this work, we analyzed Poly Methyl Methacrylate (PMMA) shown in Fig. 1 by using the JMS-S3000 SpiralTOF with the TOF-TOF option. The resulting high-energy CID data was then processed using the Polymerix™ (Sierra Analytics, Inc., http://massspec. com/) analysis software.

Various kinds of additives are used in a polymer, such as an antioxidant, a light stabilizer, and an ultraviolet absorber. Because a polymer’s properties depend on the additives in the raw material, it is important to understand these additives. Matrix-assistance laser desorption/ ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MALDI-TOFMS) JMS-S3000 SpiralTOF™ is widely used in polymer analysis. High-energy collision–induced dissociation (HE-CID) measurement with the TOF-TOF option is also useful in analyzing the structures of additives. SpiralTOF™ can achieve a high precursor ion selection with a revolution of 17 m. Fragmentation derived from HE-CID can be observed only due to the ions from post-source decay (PSD), these fragment ions can be eliminated by the four electrostatic sectors that constitute the spiral trajectory. In this Applications Note, we report on polymer structural analysis by compare fragmentation patterns in the product ion spectra of IRGANOX 1076 M+・ and [M+Na]+.

The JMS-S3000 SpiralTOF™ is a MALDI-TOF MS that uses an innovative spiral ion optical system to achieve the highest resolution currently available for a MALDI instrument. Additionally, this system can be equipped with a TOF-TOF option that can acquire high-energy collisioninduced dissociation (HE-CID) product ion spectra for monoisotopically selected precursor ions. The resulting HE-CID product ion spectra provide detailed structural information about compounds like triglycerides by means of charge-remote fragmentation (CRF).1 Tristearin is a triglyceride found in fats that consists of three stearic acid moieties (Fig. 1). In this work, we report the structural analysis of tristearin by using the HE-CID capabilities of the SpiralTOF-TOF.