Liquid Chromatography/
Mass Spectrometry Fundamentals

What is liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry used for?

Analysts worldwide use LC/MS techniques to ensure the safety of our food and water, develop life-saving pharmaceutical products, protect our environment, and guard public health. And that’s just the start of it. The more you know about LC/MS and how it works, the more you can accomplish with this amazing technology.

LC/MS can be found in nearly every type of analysis due to its ability to accept a range of liquid samples—from small nonpolar molecules to large polar biomolecules. Mass detection sensitivity allows for little to no sample preparation, with many samples only requiring a dilute and shoot approach. In addition, most labs are already equipped with LCs, and adding mass detection has never been easier thanks to intelligent hardware and intuitive software.

Pharmaceutical

Pharmaceutical companies have relied heavily on LC for many decades and are now using LC/MS for more complex and sensitive analysis. Applications span drug discovery, impurity analysis, API quality control, and PK/PD studies.

Biopharma

LC/MS equipped with electrospray ionization (ESI) is the leading technology for analyzing biomolecules, because it’s uniquely suited for large molecules like proteins, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), and oligonucleotides. With powerful software tools, samples can be deconvoluted from MS spectra containing multiply charged ions.

Protein therapeutics

Food

Ensuring food quality and safety is increasingly difficult—whether you’re analyzing for pesticide residues, ensuring that label claims are accurate, or profiling for authenticity. LC/MS is used in food testing labs around the world from high-throughput contract testing labs to research labs tackling the latest food analysis challenges.

Environmental

Monitoring contaminants in the air, water, and soil—and understanding how these chemicals can affect human and animal health—is crucial, yet challenging. LC/TQ instruments provide the high sensitivity and linearity needed to measure trace-level contaminants according to strict regulatory guidelines. LC/Q-TOF instruments help identify emerging contaminants of concern.

Omics

Characterization, identification, and quantification of biological molecules provides information about their function and dynamic states in a cell, tissue, or organism. The systematic study of these unique chemical fingerprints helps researchers understand and decipher the complex cellular processes occurring at multiple levels.

Whether you’re performing targeted metabolomics, lipidomics, or proteomics or looking for new biomarkers to improve diagnostics, prognostics, and treatment monitoring, LC/MS plays a critical role.

Proteomics

Clinical research

Clinical research plays an essential role in finding safe, effective answers to real-world health questions. Innovative LC/MS techniques empower your efforts by streamlining workflows and ensuring repeatable results.

Newborn screening

Cannabis and hemp testing

Whether you manufacture or test cannabis, you face the challenge of delivering high-quality products, increasing sample volume, and meeting emerging regulations. LC/MS can equip you to meet these goals.

Potency testing

RA45419.5919675926

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

Featured