Thermo: We have filled a gap for labs using GC-MS

By Joseph James Whitworth

- Last updated on GMT

The Thermo Scientific Q Exactive GC hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap GC-MS/MS instrument
The Thermo Scientific Q Exactive GC hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap GC-MS/MS instrument

Related tags Mass spectrometry

Thermo Scientific has claimed it has ‘filled a gap in the market’ for food and pharma labs using GC-MS in terms of sensitivity and selectivity.

The Q Exactive GC-MS/MS instrument offers a combination of gas chromatography (GC) and high-resolution accurate-mass (HRAM) Orbitrap mass spectrometry (MS).

It provides Omnic research and food safety laboratories with improved levels of productivity by combining targeted and non-targeted detection and identification capabilities to GC-MS applications.

Thermo Scientific said it will advance chemical analyses within laboratories limited by full scan GC-MS technologies, such as time-of-flight (TOF) and quadrupole-time-of-flight (Q-TOF) mass spectrometry, or comparable technologies.

The firm added Orbitrap technology for gas chromatography will provide GC-MS users with high resolving power and mass accuracy to deliver a deeper understanding of samples.

Untargeted screening sensitivity

Fausto Pigozzo, director of product marketing, GC/GC-MS, Thermo Fisher said analysis time depends on the column size but could take 20-30 minutes.

“If you compare the workflow, before you needed two or three instruments such as a QTOF and a triple quad for screening unknowns but with this instrument you can screen and see substances you would not see on older machines so it is a more efficient workflow for the chemist in the lab.

“The Orbitrap delivers the resolution power and the selectivity needed for the food industry as they work with a lot of matrixes so the signal can overlap with suspected pollutants but here you have enough resolution power to discriminate between an unsuspected pollutant versus a matrix effect.”

Q Exactive GC is designed to deliver up to 100,000 resolution at m/z 272.

The system can provide characterization of samples in a single analysis for increased performance in compound discovery, identification and quantitation.

The Q Exactive GC system was exhibited for the first time at the 63rd Annual American Society for Mass Spectrometry Conference earlier this month.

Professor Jana Hajslova of the University of Chemical Technology, Prague, Czech Republic, is interested in food authenticity and origin.

"Our experience has shown us that the Q Exactive GC definitely brings a new level of performance into GC high-resolution mass spectrometry,”​ she said.

The system builds upon the Thermo Scientific TRACE 1300 Series GC, including user-exchangeable injectors and detectors.

In laboratory tests, the Q Exactive GC system has shown quantitative capability equivalent to high-performing GC-MS triple quadrupole systems, when comparing analytical parameters such as sensitivity, precision and linearity.

Pesticide Explorer Collection

Thermo Scientific also unveiled an LC/MS toolkit for pesticide residues at the ASMS meeting.

The Pesticide Explorer Collection is aimed at laboratories performing routine quantitation, targeted screening and non-targeted analysis of pesticide residues in food matrices. 

Four pre-configured options are available in the Pesticide Explorer Collection to meet standard and high-resolution screening and quantitation needs. 

Each includes a liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry system, the Thermo Scientific QuEChERS sample extraction kit, HPLC columns, and pesticide residue analysis data acquisition and processing methods using Thermo Scientific TraceFinder software. 

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