A miniature mass spectrometer for liquid chromatography applications

A miniature mass spectrometer capable of detecting analytes eluting from a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system is described and demonstrated for the first time. The entire instrument, including all pumps and the computer, is contained within a single enclosure that may be conveniently accommodated at the base of the HPLC stack. The microspray ion source, vacuum interface, ion guide, and quadrupole ion filter are all microengineered. These components are fabricated in batches using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) techniques and considered to be consumables. When coupled to a standard HPLC system using an integrated passive split, the limit of detection for reserpine while scanning the full mass range is 5 ng on-column (1 pg of which is passed to the microspray). The mass range is m/z 100–800, and each spectrum is typically acquired at a rate of 1 scan per second. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.