New Generation of Tandem Mass Spectrometer

At the 2013 American Society for Mass Spectrometry Conference, PerkinElmer Inc. (USA) introduced the AxION iQT gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometer (GC/MS/MS). The AxION iQT system provides greater quantitative capabilities to that of a triple quadrupole, while quickly identifying compounds like a quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) at a rate of up to 500 compounds per second. The new mass spectrometer provides laboratories with easier to use technology, faster results, and more specific, selective data needed to make more accurate decisions faster.

"Global regulatory expansion is driving increased adoption of mass spectrometry as the technology provides greater sample insights for many industries," said Dusty Tenney, president of Environmental Health, PerkinElmer. "We've created a new category of mass spectrometry designed to be faster, smarter, modular and easy to operate and maintain that combines superior quantitative and identification performance into one instrument, making this latest generation of technology both user and budget friendly."

The Axion iQT GC/MS/MS solution is intuitive, enabling technicians who are not mass spectrometry trained to run their analyses easily and with confidence. The AxION iQT system is the first MS/MS technology that delivers automated method development tools to users, includes advanced application-centric software and provides easy maintenance due to its smart modular system. These unique features make the AxION iQT system a one-of- a-kind, easy to use MS/MS instrument that enables analytical labs to deliver highly specific and sensitive MS/MS results, quickly and for virtually any application.

The new system can thoroughly characterise and easily quantify compounds for a variety of applications, including the analysis of pesticides in food samples to ensure food safety and authenticity, quantitation of non-derivatised steroids, cholesterol and therapeutic drug monitoring in research applications, analysis of drugs in forensic toxicology, and thorough analysis of chemical compositions.

At the ASMS conference PerkinElmer also announced a new collaboration with CTC Analytics to provide AxION Sample Manager, a complete sample preparation and analysis solution. The AxION Sample Manager is built around the industry-leading CTC PAL technology and can be integrated with the AxION iQT for automated sample preparation with unprecedented precision and repeatability.