Inner Workings – Triple Quadrupole MS versus Single Quadrupole MS 2
How a single quadrupole mass spectrometer works
Agilent 6400 Series Triple Quad LC/MS Concepts Guide 17
Figure 3 Single quadrupole: SIM
In this example,
1 All of the ions (+, -, and neutrals) are formed in the API
source.
2 Ion optics guide the ions to the quadrupole mass analyzer.
The Agilent Ion Guide is an octopole filter of eight equally
spaced rods.
3 In the analyzer, only ions of a particular m/z value,
represented by blue balls, are allowed to pass through to the
detector.
4 The detector completes the analysis.
This system has several advantages:
• provides the best sensitivity for quantitation
• increases selectivity
• improves chromatographic specificity
• provides no structural information