Selecting an LC/MS system

[josebenjamin]

Dear Friends,

My lab is acquiring an LC/MS system. We would like to hear your opinions, comments and recomendations. The research areas are;

Precursors to Pharnaceutical Compounds
Metabolites in Bioavailability and Bioequivalency studies
New Structures in Plant extracts
Proteins in Microrganisms
Biotracers

Thus far the units propossed are,

Varian 1200 MS Triple Quadrupole (ESI) fitted with a Varian 210 binary pump, autosampler, RI detector,column oven, and data system

Varian 500 MS ESI/API (upgradable to APCI), fitted with same LC system above.

Agilent 1100 series LC/MSD, fitted with binary pump, midrodegasser, column oven, autosampler, RI detector, data system.

Our needs are basically a good reliable, simple unit, not a very capable and sophisticated one. Our budgets are limited and we need to make a good investment.

Please send us your comments and recomendations. We also would like to hear about good sources of information on LC/MS and about training courses.

Thanks,

josebenjamin

[akthmps]

I've heard great things about the Varian systems... With the triple quadrupole LC/MS (the 1200), you can actually remove the mass spectrometer from the LC and interface it to a GC! Very innovative, you get more out of your investment. I've also heard good reviews about their LC/MS 500 system with ion trap. It has a temperature programmable API interface, especially good for thermally labile analytes.

-Aaron

[josebenjamin]

Dear Aaron,

Thanks very much for your comments. If you come across any other information regarding the systems or the intended applications, please let us know about it.

josebenjamin

[sindhu]

In my opinion you should select LC tof MS machine in stead of buying
LC-MS system which will not be suffice for your applications.

My sincere advice to you is don't select system from varian and thier LC to GC concept has failed miserably. It is not as easy as they explain and finally scientists ended up using GC with FID and LC-MS/MS seperately.
Moreover their software is not 21 CFR Part 11 compliance and it is very much required for one of your BA/BE studies.

I can suggest you to discuss with waters-micromass and currently I am using thier new LC Tof machine for biomarker applications. After going through your list of applications, I am sure thier machine will cover all.
Also I am pleased with thier UPLC as front end to my MS and it has great advantage of less run times and highly concentrated peaks because of which my ionizations are improved. Lastly I am very much comfartble with thier software too when compared to Agilent's.

You can think of Waters-Micromass and let me know.

[Kostas Petritis]

I do not agree with Sindhu as you won't be able to do protein analysis (shot gun approach) and structure elucidation with a ToF instrument (at least with the current state of the art)... You will need the MS/MS capability...

I am not very familiar with Varian mass spectrometers but the Agilent one is a pretty good instrument. When you say MSD are you refering to their single quadrupole (no good for your purposes) or an ion trap (should suit your needs)?

[josebenjamin]

Dear friends,

Thanks for you opinions. Most of the comments I heard speak well of the Agilent and Waters instrumentation. Varian seems to be unknown or doubtful at best.

Thanks again,

josebenjamin

[DR]

You should speak to Varian (and Thermo too).
Don't miss waht may be best in your area with respect to service & support.

[promochrom]

Currently well acepted suppliers of LC-MS in the market are:

ABI, Waters, Termo, Agilent, and Shimadzu.

If they have a direct presence in your country, the support and price are OK, it should be safe to choose from one of them.