Adjusting compensation voltage (CV) parameters of an ion mobility device is described. In one instance, the CV parameters are adjusted to reflect a different CV range, a number of CV steps, or a CV step size to increase throughput of a mass spectrometer.

A method of spectrometric analysis comprises obtaining one or more sample spectra for an aerosol, smoke or vapour sample. The one or more sample spectra are subjected to pre-processing and then multivariate and/or library based analysis so as to classify the aerosol, smoke or vapour sample. The results of the analysis are used for various surgical or non-surgical applications.

A method for strontium isotope analysis of picogram-level samples using highly sensitive silicotungstic acid emitter is presented by a thermal ionization mass spectrometry. The emitter has merits of extremely high sensitivity, low cost, simple operation, etc. It is an important innovation of the strontium isotope analysis of the picogram-level samples. Compared with a sample consumption of 1-50 ng of conventional emitter, the present invention only needs 30-200 pg to obtain satisfying measurement accuracy. The present invention greatly improves test sensitivity, and has broad application prospects in future.

A method for determining a compensation factor parameter, c, for controlling an amount of ions ionised that are injected from an ion storage unit into mass analyser, where c is an adjustment factor that is applied to optimized injection times that are based on an optimized visible charge of a reference sample, the method comprising: detecting at least one mass spectrum for at least one amount of injected ions; determining from the at least one detected mass spectrum, a slope, s(sample), of a linear correlation of a relative m/z shift with visible total charge Q.sub.v of detected mass spectra; determining the compensation factor c as c=s(reference)/s(sample) where s(reference) is the slope of a linear correlation between reference-sample relative m/z shift values and reference-sample visible charge values determined from a plurality of mass spectra detected from a plurality of respective pre-selected amounts of a clean reference sample.

Exemplary embodiments relate to the calibration of mass spectrometry data, and may be especially useful for calibrating collision cross sectional data. These techniques apply assisted (rather than automated) calibration techniques. Context-sensitive user interfaces are presented that allow a user to review matches made by a calibration algorithm, and to override prior selections to improve the fit of a model used to make a calibrating adjustment. The calibrating adjustment can then be applied to past or future data coming from the device in order to normalize it and allow it to be compared to other data.

In order to improve the ionization efficiency and ion collection efficiency in an ESI ion source to achieve a higher level of analysis sensitivity while improving the throughput of the analysis, one mode of the present invention provides an ion analyzer equipped with an ion source employing an electrospray ionization method, where the ion source (2) includes: a plurality of capillaries (211-218) configured to spray a supplied liquid sample in the same direction; one or more auxiliary electrodes (23, 231-328) arranged so as to be surrounded by the plurality of capillaries; and a voltage supplier (24) configured to apply, to the plurality of capillaries, a DC high voltage for which the potential of the one or more auxiliary electrodes is used as a reference.

Disclosed is a novel means for accurate qualitative and quantitative analyses for each N-glycosylation site. The method of analyzing N-linked sugar chain(s) of glycoprotein according to the present invention comprises: treating a part of a glycopeptide-containing sample to be analyzed with endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidases to cleave off sugar chains while leaving one GlcNAc of the chitobiose core on the Asn at the N-glycosylation site; subjecting the obtained sugar chain-cleaved sample to preliminary liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry; predicting the retention time of the glycopeptide of interest and the mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) of the precursor ion in main analysis based on the results of the preliminary liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry; and carrying out the main analysis. By this method, the binding sites and structures of N-linked sugar chains in a glycoprotein can be analyzed. By using the sugar chain-cleaved sample as an internal standard in the main analysis, quantitative analysis of sugar chains at each glycosylation site also becomes possible.

Slide analysis a gripper with three sensors for controlling a slide grip sequence and at least one rotatable carousel with a slide receiving channel. The systems also include a robot with a robot arm that holds a slide gripper residing inside the housing in communication with the rotatable carousel. The systems also include a load lock chamber and a door sealably coupled to the second end portion and an acquisition vacuum chamber with an X-Y stage and a slide holder with a vacuum seal.

A known compound and at least one adduct, modified form, or peptide of the known compound are separated from a sample mixture and analyzed. An XIC is calculated for each of M product ions of the known compound and L product ions of the at least one adduct, modified form, or peptide. A first XIC peak group is calculated from the M XICs and a second XIC peak group is calculated from the L XICs using curve subtraction. Representative first and second XIC peaks are selected for the two XIC peak groups. The retention of the second XIC peak is shifted by an expected retention time difference found from a database. The retention time of the first XIC peak is verified as the retention time of the known compound if the difference of the retention times of the first and second XIC peaks is within a threshold.

A method of operating an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry apparatus for analyzing an analyte sample, the mass spectrometry apparatus including a plasma ion source, a mass analyzer and an interface arrangement positioned between the plasma ion source and the mass analyzer of the mass spectrometer, the interface arrangement at least including an interface structure, including a sampling or skimmer cone, and at least one passage with an inlet and an outlet into a reaction zone, the method including: generating a plasma using the plasma ion source and forming a plasma flux to flow towards the mass analyzer; supplying the analyte sample into the reaction zone via the passage such that the analyte sample interacts with the plasma flux; and analyzing the analyte sample using the mass analyzer.