Automated liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry for chromatographers

Automated ‘open access’ mass spectrometry with liquid interfaces is now considered routine in our laboratories at Sandwich, UK. Synthetic chemists 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 whole process occurs without any intervention by a mass spectroscopist (D. V. Bowen, M. Dalton, G. Perkins, F. Pullen and D. Richards, Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom. Vol. 8, p. 632 (1994)). Fast response liquid chromatography/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 Communication describes the development of such a system for our laboratories.