A technical advisory service for LC/MS users provided by Phillip Holt service@lcmsunit.info ABN 56 380 880 976
LCMS Unit News
March 2009, NOTE: Services that I ran at Monash University have now ceased. For LC/MS services at that location you must now see Sally Duck.
Dec 2008, Operations have now moved to the Mass Spectrometry Lab G46 in the South Wing of Building 23.
The services offered by the LC/MS unit
What we can do for you.
- Provide advice on novel chromatography method development
- Troubleshoot MassLynx and Empower HPLC and LCMS systems.
- Training of operators of MassLynx powered LC/MS systems.
Why use LC/MS ?
LC/MS is the Combination of two analytical techniques, liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. You can obtain spectra and molecular mass identification for each peak eluted from the chromatography column. Straigtforward mass spectra of directly infused samples won't distinguish between, buffer components, contaminants and other components of a sample mixture.
By doing even simple LC separation first you can clean up the sample a little and remove interfering peaks from the spectrum of the required entity. The simplest form of this is desalting, where the buffer salts elute rapidly but the sample is slightly retained by a column. Interfering salts like phosphates can be diverted from the Mass Spectrometer and the sample switched back to enter the MS as it elutes from the column.
Distiguishing between in source fragmentation or sample chemical degradation is also much easier with LC/MS.