AUTOMATED LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY FOR CHROMATOGRAPHERS

Automated 'open access' mass spectrometry with liquid interfaces is no w considered routine in our laboratories at Sandwich, UK. Synthetic ch emists log samples into a queue on the mass spectrometer and return a short time later to take the mass spectrum and the sample away. The wh ole process occurs without any intervention by a mass spectroscopist ( D. V. Bowen, M. Dalton, G. Perkins, F. Pullen and D, Richards, Rapid C ommun. Mass Spectrom. Vol. 8, p. 632 (1994)). Fast response liquid chr omatography/mass spectrometry is a further development in 'open access ' mass spectrometry driven by the needs of chromatographers, for whom it is important that the identity of each component present in a high- performance liquid chromatographic separation is known. This Communica tion describes the development of such a system for our laboratories.