use of ammonium fluoride in LC-MS

Discussions about GC-MS, LC-MS, LC-FTIR, and other "coupled" analytical techniques.

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Hello,

There was a thread about it a long time ago, and I wonder if anyone has got some additional experience about the use of ammonium fluoride at low concentration (e.g. 0.2 mM) in LC-MS. There have been a bunch of relatively recent papers, especially on steroids and some pesticides, claiming that NH4F can boost senstivity for these molecules. However, as an academic analytical platform, we feel a bit nesh about using NH4F in routine, especially since most of our current methods run with formic acid or ammonium formate. But naturally, if this could increase the sensitivity of certain methods, that might be worth it. Specifically, my questions are:

-Is there a risk for the MS source? Would we need to clean the MS more often? We have both ABSciex and Waters triple quads.
-Could it degrade the glass bottle containing mobile phases and release unwanted stuff which might increase background noise in the MS?
-Would Peek tubings resist low amounts of HF?
-Would we have to thoroughly wash the HPLC system to fully eliminate any trace of formic acid beforehand?
-Would you recommend to remove NH4F from the system right after the analysis?
-Would we need a plastic waste bottle or a glass bottle would work if we take care not to have any acid in it?

Altogether, I am trying to evaluate whether NH4F may be a viable solution for certain measurements on the long term.

Thank you
We use a 0.2 mM as MPA in high-throughput testing for endogenous hormones, in triple-quads. No issues whatsoever. No precautions are necessary, it doesn't degrade borosilicate or PEEK. Use ACN/MeOH to wash the column/system.
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