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Mass Spectrometry Facility

EB-38, Department of Chemistry,
University of Alberta,
Edmonton, AB
Canada T6G 2G2

There are currently twelve mass spectrometers housed in the mass spectrometry laboratory covering most ionisation techniques from electron impact to MALDI.

Instrument Year
Acquired		 Ionisation Source(s)
Analyser		 Image

Agilent Technologies 6130 LCMS

2014

± ES LCMS
Single Quadrupole
(Q)

6130SQ

Agilent Technologies 6220 oaTOF

2009

± ES MS
Orthogonal TOF
(oaTOF)

6220 TOF

AB SCIEX API 5000

2024

± ES MS
Triple Quadrupole
(QqQ)

API5000

Bruker 9.4T Apex-Qe FTICR

2005

± ES / MALDI MS/MS
Quadrupole FTICR
(Qq FTICR)

Bruker FTMS

ThermoScientific Orbitrap Exactive

2022

± ES LCMS
(Orbitrap)

Exactive

ThermoScientific Orbitrap Exploris 240

2022

± ES LCMS/MS
Quadrupole Orbitrap MS

Exploris

Waters (Micromass) Q-TOF Premier

2005

± ES LCMS/MS
Quadrupole TOF
(QqTOF)

Q-TOF Premier

AB SCIEX Voyager Elite MALDI

2000

± MALDI MS
Time-of-Flight
(TOF)

Voyager Elite

Bruker Ultraflextreme MALDI TOF/TOF

2010

± MALDI MS
MS/MS
(TOF/TOF)

TOFTOF

Agilent Technologies 5975C MSD

2007

+ EI GCMS
Single Quadrupole
(Q)

5975C MSD

Bruker SCION TQ

2012

+ EI and ± CI MS
LR GCMS and GCMS/MS
Triple Quadrupole
(QqQ)

Bruker SCION TQ

Kratos Analytical MS-50G

1975

+ EI MS
Double Focussing Sector
(E B)

Kratos MS50


Agilent Technologies 1260 HPLC with G6130B MSD
MANUFACTURER: Agilent Technologies (Santa Clara, CA, USA)
IONISATION MODES: +ve and -ve ion ESI (flow range 0.050 to 1 mL/min)
INSTRUMENT: Single Quadrupole MS
OPERATING MODES:
  • Full-scan MS
  • SIM MS
M/Z RANGE: m/z 2 to 3000
RESOLVING POWER: Unit mass resolution over mass range
MASS ACCURACY: ± 0.13u
INLET(S): Agilent 1260 Infinity HPLC System (Agilent Technologies) including:
  • G1311B 1260 Quaternary HPLC Pump (flow range: from 0.05 to 5 mL/min at 600 bar)
  • G1329B 1260 ALS Autosampler (holds 100 samples)
  • G1316A 1260 TCC (thermostatted column compartment)
  • G4212B 1260 DAD (Diode Array Detector) (range: 190nm to 640nm)
DATA SYSTEM: ChemStation LC/MSD C.01.11 on Windows 11 (64-bit)
Agilent MassHunter Walkup System for LCMS Data Acquisition ver. 4.3
Dell Precision 7865 AMD Ryzen Threadripper @4.1 GHz CPU with 16GB RAM
APPLICATIONS: Analysis of involatile or labile compounds via LCMS (only) including:
  • small molecules
  • small peptides
ACQUISITION DATE: October 2014
FUNDING: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)

Agilent Technologies 6220 oaTOF
MANUFACTURER: Agilent Technologies Santa Clara California, USA
IONISATION MODES:
  • +ve and -ve ion ESI (1 to 100 µL/min)
  • +ve and -ve ion Atmospheric Pressure Photoionisation (100 to 1000µL/min)
INSTRUMENT:
  • orthogonal acceleration TOF (oaTOF)
    • OPERATING MODES:
    • Full-scan MS (high-resolution analysis) with two-point lock mass correction
    M/Z RANGE: m/z up to 20,000 MS
    RESOLVING POWER: extended dynamic range mode: ~12,000 fwhm
    high-resolution mode: ~20,000 fwhm
    MASS ACCURACY:
    high-resolution mode: ± 2ppm
    INLET(S): Agilent 1200 SL HPLC System (Agilent Technologies) including:
    • G1312B Binary HPLC Pump with SSV (flow range: from 0.1 to 1 mL/min)
    • G1310A Isocratic Pump with manual injection valve
    • G1379B Micro-vacuum degasser
    • G1367D SL+ ALS Autosampler (holds 100 samples)
    • G1316B Heated Column Compartment with switching valve
    • G1315C SL Diode Array Detector (range: 190nm to 950nm)
    DATA SYSTEM: Windows XP Professional
    Hewlett Packard, 3.0 GHz CPU with 2GB RAM
    4 x 250MB HD RAID 5
    APPLICATIONS: involatile or labile compounds
    • low-resolution analysis
    • high-resolution analysis - including elemental composition of compounds
    • high-resolution LCMS
    ACQUISITION DATE: February 2009
    FUNDING: Western Economic Diversification Canada

    AB SCIEX API 5000
    MANUFACTURER: AB SCIEX (Framingham, MA, USA)
    IONISATION MODES: +ve and -ve ion ESI
    INSTRUMENT: triple quadrupole
    OPERATING MODES:
  • MS Full-scan (Q1 or Q3)
  • MS/MS Product ion Scan
  • MS/MS Precursor ion Scan
  • MS/MS Neutral Loss Scan
  • Multiple-Reaction Monitoring (MRM)
    • M/Z RANGE: up to m/z 1250
    RESOLVING POWER: unit resolution
    MASS ACCURACY: ± 0.2 u
    INLET(S):
    Agilent 1100 HPLC System (Agilent Technologies) including:
    • G1379A Degasser
    • G1312A Binary HPLC Pump with SSV (flow range: from 0.1 to 1 mL/min)
    • G1329A ALS Autosampler (holds 100 samples)
    • G1316A Heated Column Compartment
    DATA SYSTEM: WIN XP computer
    Acquisition: Analyst 1.6
    Analysis: Analyst 1.6
    APPLICATIONS: involatile or labile compounds
    • low resolution analysis
    • MS/MS for both qualitative and quantitative analysis of small molecules
    ACQUISITION DATE: December 2023 (2005 instrument)
    FUNDING: Donation from Laboratory Medicine and Pathology - U. Alberta

    Bruker 9.4T Apex-Qe FTICR
    MANUFACTURER: Bruker Daltonics (Billerica, MA, USA)
    IONISATION MODES: Apollo II Dual source provides: +ve and -ve ion ESI and MALDI

    ESI source options:
    • standard source (1 to 100 µL/min)
    • on-line nanospray source (0.1 to 1 µL/min)
    • off-line EZ nanospray Pro V2 source (<1 µL/min)
    INSTRUMENT:
    • Mass Selective Quadrupole MS
    • Hexapole collision cell (ion-accumulation region)
    • FTICR infinity cell
    • Magnet: 9.4T / 110mm bore magnet from Magnex Scientific
    OPERATING MODES:
    • Full-scan MS
    • CID MS/MS
    • SORI MS/MS
    • ECD MS/MS
    • IRMPD MS/MS
    M/Z RANGE: m/z 100 to 10,000
    RESOLVING POWER: >1 Million in narrowband mode
    mass dependent but typically 30,000 to 100,000 in broadband mode
    see the FTICR Calculator for more information
    MASS ACCURACY: ± 2ppm
    INLET(S): Agilent 1100 Capillary HPLC System (Agilent Technologies) including:
    • G1379A Microdegasser
    • G1376A Binary Capillary Pump with SSV (flow range: from 1 to 20 L/min)
    • G1377A µ-WellPlate Autosampler (holds 2 microtitre plates plus 10 vials)
    • G1365A Multi-Wavelength Detector (MWD)(range: 190nm to 950nm)

    Cole Parmer syringe pump (infusion)
    DATA SYSTEM: Acquisition: ApexControl 2.0 on Windows XP Professional
    Analysis: DataAnalysis 3.4
    Dell Precision Workstation 670 Xeon, 2.8GHz CPU with 3GB RAM
    APPLICATIONS: Low-resolution and High-resolution analysis (including elemental composition)

    ESI: (analysis of involatile and lablile compounds, eg. organic, organometallic, peptides, oligosaccharides, etc.)
    • infusion - MS and MS/MS via:
      • CID
      • IRMPD
      • ECD
      • SORI
    • LCMS and LCMS/MS via:
      • CID
      • IRMPD
    MALDI: (analysis of involatile and lablile compounds, eg. peptides, organic (esp. very hydrophobic compounds), oligosaccharides, etc. )
      MS and MS/MS via:
      • CID
      • IRMPD
    ACQUISITION DATE: December 2005 (Instrument is a 2007 model)
    FUNDING:

    Thermo Scientific Orbitrap Exactive
    MANUFACTURER: ThermoFisher Scientific (Bremen, DE)
    IONISATION MODES: +ve and -ve ion ESI
    INSTRUMENT:
    • High-resolution MS
    OPERATING MODES:
    • Full-scan MS
    • MS/MS without mass selection
    M/Z RANGE: m/z 50 to 4,000
    RESOLVING POWER:
    mass dependent, up to 100,000 at m/z 200
    MASS ACCURACY: ± 2ppm
    INLET(S): Agilent 1290 UHPLC (Agilent Technologies) including:
    • G4220A Infinity Binary Pump with SSV (flow range: from 0.02 to 5mL/min)
    • G4226A Infinity Autosampler (holds 2 x 54 vial trays for 2mL vials)
    • G1316C Infinity TCC

    Syringe pump (infusion)
    DATA SYSTEM: Acquisition: Xcalibur on Windows 7
    Analysis: Qual / Quan Browser
    Dell Optiplex 960, Intel Core2Duo with 4GB RAM
    APPLICATIONS: Low-resolution and High-resolution analysis (including elemental composition)

    ESI: (analysis of involatile and lablile compounds, eg. organic, organometallic, peptides, oligosaccharides, etc.)
    ACQUISITION DATE: January 2022 (Instrument is a 2013 model)
    FUNDING:
    • MS Donation from Professor J. Curtis, Agriculture, Food and Nutrional Sciences, U. of Alberta
    • UHPLC on loan from Professor L. Li, Department of Chemistry, U. of Alberta

    Thermo Scientific Exploris 240
    MANUFACTURER: ThermoFisher Scientific (Bremen, DE)
    IONISATION MODES:
    • +ve and -ve ion ESI
    • DART
    • LIFDI (coming soon)
    INSTRUMENT:
    • High-resolution MS
    OPERATING MODES:
    • Full-scan MS
    • MS/MS with quadrupole MS selection
    M/Z RANGE: m/z 40 to 6,000
    RESOLVING POWER:
    mass dependent, up to 240,000 at m/z 200
    MASS ACCURACY: ± 2ppm
    INLET(S): Thermo Vanquish UHPLC (ThermoFisher Scientific) including:
    • Vanquish Binary Pump with SSV (flow range: from 0.02 to 5mL/min)
    • Vanquish Autosampler (holds 4 x 54 vial trays for 2mL vials)
    • Vanquish DAD (diode-array detector)
    • Vanquish FLD (fluorescence detector)
    • 2 x Vanquish Column Compartment with switching valves to accomodate 6 columns

    Syringe pump (infusion)
    DATA SYSTEM: Acquisition: Xcalibur on Windows 10
    Analysis: Tracefinder 5.3, Freestyle
    Dell Optiplex XE3, Intel Core i7-8700 with 32GB RAM
    APPLICATIONS: Low-resolution and high-resolution MS and MS/MS analysis (including elemental composition)

    ESI: (analysis of involatile and lablile compounds, eg. organic, organometallic, peptides, oligosaccharides, etc.)
    DART: (analysis of involatile and lablile organic compounds)
    LIFDI: (analysis of air-sensitive organic and organometallic compounds)
    ACQUISITION DATE: July 2022
    FUNDING:

    Waters Q-TOF Premier
    MANUFACTURER: Waters (Milford, MA, USA) (formerly Micromass, UK)
    IONISATION MODES: +ve and -ve ion ESI, source options:
    • LockSpray source (1 to 1000 µL/min)
    • nanoLockspray source (0.1 to 1 µL/min)
    INSTRUMENT:
    • Mass Selective Quadrupole MS
    • Travelling Wave Ion Guide (TWIG) collision cell
    • orthogonal TOF
    OPERATING MODES:
    • Full-scan MS
    • MS/MS Product Ion Scan
    • MS/MS Precursor Ion Scan
    • MS/MS Constant Neutral Loss Scan
    • Survey Scan for Data-Directed Analysis (DDA)
    M/Z RANGE: m/z up to 100,000 in V MS mode,
    mass selection up to m/z 4,000 for MS/MS
    RESOLVING POWER: 10,000 fwhm in V-mode
    17,500 fwhm in W-mode
    MASS ACCURACY: ± 3ppm
    INLET(S): Waters nanoAcquity UPLC System (Waters) including:
    • Sample Manager (holds 2 x 48 vials or 2 microtitre plates)
    • Binary Solvent Manager (flow range: 0.2 to 100µL/min (gradient))
    • Auxillary Solvent Manager (flow range: 0.2 to 50µL/min)
    Built-in syringe pump (infusion)
    DATA SYSTEM: MassLynx 4.1 on Windows XP Professional
    IBM ThinkCenter M50 Workstation, Pentium IV, 3GHz CPU with 1GB RAM
    APPLICATIONS:
    • MS/MS analysis of peptides:
      • infusion - prepurifed sample, vary collision energy over wide range
      • DDA LCMS/MS - peptides from protein enzymatic digest (Protein Identification)
    • MS analysis of intact proteins by infusion of prepurified sample (determine MW)
    ACQUISITION DATE: March 2005
    FUNDING:

    Bruker Ultraflextreme MALDI TOF/TOF
    MANUFACTURER: Bruker Daltonics (Bremen, GmbH)
    IONISATION MODES: +ve and -ve ion MALDI
    INSTRUMENT:
    • Linear Time-of-Flight MS
    • LIFT collision cell
    • Reflectron Time-of-Flight MS
    OPERATING MODES:
    • Linear MS
    • Reflectron MS
    • Reflectron MS/MS
    M/Z RANGE: m/z up to 400,000 MS and ~5,000 MS/MS
    RESOLVING POWER:
    • Linear MS Mode: 1200 fwhm
    • Reflectron MS Mode: broad mass range >20,000 to 30,000 fwhm
    • MS/MS mode: >2500 fwhm at m/z 700
    MASS ACCURACY:
    • Reflectron MS Mode: ± 5ppm external and ± 1.5 ppm internal
    • MS/MS mode: ± 0.05Da
    INLET(S): Proteineer FC with Easy nanoLC (Bruker Daltonics) including:
    • MALDI Sample targets - 384 spot stainless steel or Bruker's anchorChip™ targets
    • Proteineer FC II - sample spotting robot, holds 4 MALDI targets
    • Easy nanoLC - ThermoScientific / Proxeon - splitless flow nanoHPLC
    DATA SYSTEM: Acquisition: FlexControl with WARP-LC
    Data Analysis: FlexAnalysis and BioTools
    Windows XP Professional
    HP xw4600, 3GHz Core 2 Duo CPU with 3.5GB RAM
    APPLICATIONS:
    • MALDI MS of small and large molecules
    • MALDI MS/MS of complex peptide mixtures for identification
    ACQUISITION DATE: April 2010
    FUNDING:

    AB SCIEX Voyager Elite MALDI
    MANUFACTURER: AB SCIEX (Framingham, MA, USA)
    IONISATION MODES: +ve and -ve ion MALDI
    INSTRUMENT: Time-of-Flight equipped with:
    • Pulsed Nitrogen laser (337nm) (3ns pulse - up to 300 µJ/pulse)
    • delayed-extraction - improved resolution and mass accuracy
    • reflectron (ion mirror) - improved resolution and mass accuracy
    OPERATING MODES: "Full-scan" MS
    M/Z RANGE: up to m/z 400,000
    RESOLVING POWER: mass dependent:
    • 5000 fwhm, up to m/z 3500
    • 1200 fwhm, m/z 3500 to m/z 10,000
    • 800 fwhm, m/z 10,000 to m/z 30,000
    • 80 fwhm, over m/z 30,000
    MASS ACCURACY: mass dependent:
    • ± ~0.2u, up to m/z 3500 (external)
    • ± 0.05%, m/z 3500 to m/z 30,000 (external)
    • ± 0.2%, over m/z 30,000 (external)
    INLET(S): 100 spot MALDI target (MALDI Target stainless steel or gold coated)
    DATA SYSTEM: Acquisition: Voyager Instrument Control Panel 5.0 on Windows NT 4.0
    Analysis: Data Explorer 4.0
    Dell Optiplex GX1 (Pentium III), 500MHz CPU with 128MB RAM
    APPLICATIONS: involatile or labile compounds
    • peptides, proteins (and conjugates)
    • organic, organometallic
    • polymers
    ACQUISITION DATE: January 2000 (1998 instrument)
    FUNDING: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)

    Agilent Technologies 7890 GC with 5975C MSD
    MANUFACTURER: Agilent Technologies (Santa Clara, CA, USA)
    IONISATION MODES: +ve ion EI
    INSTRUMENT: Single Quadrupole MS
    OPERATING MODES:
    • Full-scan MS
    • SIM MS
    • SIM / Scan (simultaneous SIM and scan)
    M/Z RANGE: m/z 5 to 1050
    RESOLVING POWER: Unit mass resolution over mass range
    MASS ACCURACY: ± 0.2u
    INLET(S): Agilent 7890A GC System (Agilent Technologies) including:
    • Split / Splitless injection (pulsed splitless available)
    • Electronic flow control (range limited by pumping system of MSD)
    DATA SYSTEM: ChemStation E.01.00 MSD on Windows XP Professional
    HP Compaq Pentium 4, 3.4GHz CPU with 512MB RAM
    APPLICATIONS: Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of volatile compounds
    Note: this instrument is used for CHEM 313 in the Fall semester and CHEM 305 in the Winter semester
    ACQUISITION DATE: May 2007
    FUNDING: Faculty of Science (for undergraduate teaching)

    Bruker SCION TQ with 456 GC
    MANUFACTURER: Bruker
    IONISATION MODES:
  • +ve ion EI
  • ±ve ion CI
    • INSTRUMENT: Triple Quadrupole (QqQ)
    OPERATING MODES:
    • Low-resolution GCMS
    • Low-resolution GCMS/MS
    • Low-resolution GC SIM
    • Low-resolution GC MRM
    • GC FID
    M/Z RANGE: m/z 1 to 1200
    RESOLVING POWER: unit mass resolution
    MASS ACCURACY: ± 0.2u
    INLET(S):
    • Bruker 456 GC System (Bruker) including:
      • Split / Splitless injection (pulsed splitless available)
      • on-column injection
      • back-flush option
      • Chromatoprobe - programmable solid / liquid desoprtion to GC column
    DATA SYSTEM: Bruker MS Workstation 8.0 on Windows 7 (32-bit)
    Intel Core i5 3.1 GHz CPU with 3GB RAM
    APPLICATIONS:
    • Low-resolution GCMS (full scan)
    • LR EI SIM GCMS
    • LR EI MRM GCMS
    • LR ±CI SIM GCMS
    • LR ±CI MRM GCMS
    ACQUISITION DATE: December 2012
    FUNDING: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)

    Kratos MS50G
    MANUFACTURER: Kratos Analytical (formerly AEI) now available from Mass Spectrometry International
    IONISATION MODES: +ve ion EI
    INSTRUMENT: Double Focussing Sector (EB)
    OPERATING MODES: High-resolution full-scan MS (pfk as reference)
    M/Z RANGE: up to m/z 1000
    RESOLVING POWER: 10,000 (10% valley) ~20,000 fwhm
    MASS ACCURACY: ± 3ppm
    INLET(S): Direct Insertion Probe Direct Probe (DIP)
    DATA SYSTEM: MASPEC I v14.0 on Windows 98SE
    Pentium II MMX 233MHz CPU with 64MB RAM
    APPLICATIONS: High-resolution analysis (elemental composition) of prepurified semi-volatile compounds
    Note: compound must be thermally stable, labile compounds may give little to no molecular ion
    ACQUISITION DATE: May 1975
    FUNDING: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)

    For further information, please contact:

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