Introduction of Most Sensitive Time-of-Flight LC/MS

Agilent Technologies Inc. (USA) introduce the Agilent 6230 Accurate-Mass time-of-flight (TOF) liquid chromatograph /mass spectrometer (LC/MS) system. This new instrument can detect and identify compounds in amounts smaller than two trillionths of a gram (2 picograms), making the Agilent 6230 a powerful tool for food safety, toxicology and other measurements where minute amounts of compounds must be identified.

Complementing this unrivalled sensitivity and mass accuracy, Agilent has also compiled an extensive pesticide accurate-mass database, enabling users to rapidly identify pesticides in food and environmental samples with a high degree of confidence.

“Food-safety scientists have always voiced strong interest in TOF technology for screening food samples, but needed more sensitivity to consistently detect analytes at 10 parts per billion (ppb) or less concentration levels,” said Ken Imatani, Agilent product manager. “We have improved our detection levels to see analytes now at 1 ppb and even some down to 0.1 ppb concentration levels, which marks a real breakthrough for TOF detection technology. This, and our new, comprehensive accurate mass pesticide database, lets customers

identify pesticides very quickly and with great confidence.”

The new Agilent pesticide database contains accurate mass information for more than 1,600 compounds, including links to structural data found in PubChem, ChemSpider and other chemical databases. The database also accommodates the addition of LC retention times which, combined with accurate mass results, provides a significantly increased confidence in  confirming compound identity.

“Accurate mass analysis using time-of-flight is extremely valuable for environmental analysis, and the new Agilent TOF 6230 is robust, with high resolution and accuracy,” said Michael Thurman, Ph.D., Center for Environmental Mass Spectrometry, University of Colorado. “The latest improvements in sensitivity will make this instrument an excellent choice for pesticide analysis.”