Mass Spectrometry

Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that measures the mass to charge ratio (m/z) of analyte ions in the gas phase. It has become one of the most important analytical techniques involving chemical-related research. Rapid technical developments towards the second half of the 20th century helped transform it from an instrument with niche applications in the physics laboratory to one now applied in disciplines from archaeology to zoology encompassing chemistry, biochemistry, plant science, space exploration, airport security, environmental monitoring, food authenticity and medical applications.

Mass spectra can provide information about molecular and elemental composition of a sample and can quantify the abundance of individual chemical components. The technique is a highly selective, meaning that it can differentiate between multiple compounds within a complex chemical or biological sample. It can be used to analyse solids, liquids and gases with very high sensitivity (analysis of compounds at low picomole levels (1 trillionth of a gram) is typical for modern instruments). It is said that, for the amount of sample required, mass spectrometry can provide more structural information than almost any other technique, including crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR).

The utility of mass spectrometry for the sensitive identification and quantification of individual compounds from simple and complex samples, has led to a wide range of physical, chemical, biological, medical and industrial applications and is now a ubiquitous technique used in chemical biology, structural biology, systems biology and the investigation of biological molecules generally. Developments in the technique have enabled identification and quantification of proteins and metabolites in biological samples (see proteomics and metabolomics).

Selected publications