Væskekromatografimassespektrometri

Væskekromatografimassespektrometri, often abbreviated as LC-MS, is an analytical chemistry technique that combines the physical separation capabilities of liquid chromatography with the mass measurement capabilities of mass spectrometry. This powerful hyphenated technique allows for the separation, identification, and quantification of compounds in complex mixtures. Liquid chromatography separates components based on their differing affinities for a stationary phase and a mobile phase, while mass spectrometry measures the mass-to-charge ratio of ionized molecules, providing information about their molecular weight and structure.

In LC-MS, the eluent from the liquid chromatograph is directly introduced into the mass spectrometer. This requires a suitable interface to convert the liquid stream into a gas-phase ion beam that the mass spectrometer can analyze. Common interfaces include electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI). Once ionized, the molecules are separated in the mass analyzer based on their mass-to-charge ratio and then detected. The resulting data provides both chromatographic retention times and mass spectral information, enabling highly specific identification and sensitive quantification of analytes. LC-MS is widely used in fields such as pharmaceutical analysis, environmental monitoring, clinical diagnostics, and food safety.