Agilent Technologies Inc. introduced the 7010 Triple Quadrupole GC/MS System featuring a totally redesigned ion source that is a radical departure from the conventional ion sources currently on the market. The new high-efficiency electron ionization (EI) source enables attogram detection limits–a first for any EI GC/MS/MS system. Along with lower detection limits, the improved sensitivity offers increased confidence in results at all measurement levels, and provides the opportunity for significant streamlining of sample preparation procedures to save time and money.
“This is the first significant innovation for EI design in decades,” said Monty Benefiel, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s GC and GC/MS Solutions Division. “It is an innovation that immediately delivers value to all MS/MS customers, especially those challenged by stringent regulatory guidelines and ever-increasing workloads. In either case, the customer will benefit from the 7010’s remarkable performance.”
The 7010 Triple Quadrupole GC/MS system’s new EI source creates more than 20 times as many ions as the current generation of EI sources. This high efficiency of ionization translates directly to greater efficiency in the laboratory, as it will now be possible to:
Inject smaller volumes of sample for decreased load on GC liners and columns, thereby increasing the number of samples run between maintenance operations;
Scale down sample prep volumes to save on expensive reagents and standards, and decrease waste;
Eliminate time-consuming and error-prone preconcentration steps; and
Add more compounds to target lists easily by lowering the dwell times of existing targets.
Without any changes to existing methods, much better lower limits of quantitation (LLOQ) can be achieved than ever before–up to an order of magnitude lower in many cases. For those who do not need to reach lower detection limits today, more precise qualifier ion ratios provide greater confidence in quantitative and qualitative results. The new EI source technology is also available to current and future 7000C owners in the form of an upgrade package.
“Customers might use its power to reach limits of detection that have always been out of reach,” said Benefiel. “Or they might speed up their analyses so they can do more of the measurements they do today in less time. Either way, we’re sure the 7010 will make our customers’ labs more productive than ever before. And customers’ ability to easily upgrade a 7000C is part of the ‘Measure of Confidence’ Agilent provides.”