LC-MS for Chromatographers

An introduction to the use of LC-MS and LC-MS/MS, with an emphasis on the analysis of drugs in biological matrices.

Who should take this course?

This course is designed to provide basic knowledge and practical applications of LC-MS for liquid chromatographers. Most of the examples emphasize the most popular use of LC-MS/MS today: the analysis of drugs in metabolites in biological extracts. Although no previous experience with HPLC is necessary, the course will be especially valuable to those with some chromatography experience.
 

What does it cover?

This one day course gives an overview of mass spectrometric detection and how it works.  You will learn about the different kinds of MS detectors and their applications, along with the basic practices required to obtain dependable data from your LC-MS.  The principles of sample preparation will be presented as well as recommended techniques to get the most out of your instrument.
 
MS operation, including the operation of the most popular LC-MS interfaces
How a quadrupole mass filter works
MS calibration and optimisation
Ion production, fragmentation and detection
Operation in MS, MS-MS, and MS-MS-MS modes
Structure determination by product ion analysis 
 

What will I get from this course?

You will learn how a mass spectrometer works, the advantages (and limitations) of adding mass spectrometric detection to your liquid chromatographic analyses and how to use MS to approach separation and detection problems difficult to solve by other methods. By understanding the central role of the LC-MS interface and the molecular ion, you will gain a solid grounding on which to build your LC-MS expertise.
 

Course Outline

Introduction and overview of LC-MS
Principles of quadrupole mass analysers
Basics of quadrupole instrumentation
The (pseudo) molecular ion
Calibration and tuning
Qualitative analysis
Quantitative analysis
Developing the MS method
Developing the LC method
 
Available as an in-house or off-site course.