A tandem mass spectrometer is used to measure the mass of molecules and identify compounds in a sample. It can fragment molecules and ions to identify proteins and other organic substances. The detector tracks ion activity and creates a graph to show the molecular mass and amount of each substance in the sample. Different experiments can be performed, including single-mass monitoring and multiple reaction monitoring. The instrument can also be used as a metabolic screening tool to detect disorders linked to amino acids and other conditions.
A mass spectrometer is an instrument often used to measure the mass of molecules, which can help identify compounds in a sample. Charged particles called ions are released from the sample and analyzed. An instrument with multiple analyzers is called a tandem mass spectrometer (MS/MS). Typically capable of fragmenting molecules and ions, it is often used to identify proteins and other organic substances. The instrument may include spectrometers of a single type or combine more than one; sometimes two, three or four analyzers are incorporated.
A type of molecule or protein can be isolated from a magnetic field in a tandem mass spectrometer. The first analyzer can be used to achieve this. Ions are often stabilized by a second analyzer before the molecules are exposed to a gas. Collisions at the molecular level cause particles to break into fragments, which are detected by a third-party analyzer. Although there are several methods for breaking down molecules, sometimes an analyzer can be used with a quadrupole ion trap, which exposes ions to electric fields and ejects them from a radio frequency field.
The detector of a tandem mass spectrometer typically tracks ion activity. Then it creates a signal which is sent to a computer system which stores the data. A graph is typically used to indicate what is in the sample and what the molecular mass of each substance is. The graph can also show the amount of each type of molecule or protein in the sample. There are various types of detectors that can be used in an MS/MS, including photomultipliers, designed to detect electromagnetic energy, or electron multipliers, which are vacuum tubes that collide electrons to amplify current.
Several types of experiments can be performed with a tandem mass spectrometer. A common one is typically single-mass monitoring, where the first analyzer allows the particle type to pass, while the second looks for a specific fragment. Multiple reaction monitoring involves the second analyzer monitoring different types of fragment ions. These are both often used in pharmaceutical studies, while precursor ion scanning experiments generally help detect ion leaks and detect unknown molecular components.
The tandem mass spectrometer can also be used as a metabolic screening tool. It has been used to find newborn disorders linked to proteins called amino acids. Blood, thyroid and metabolic conditions can be detected by analyzing blood samples with an MS/MS system in the laboratory.
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