New TOF spectrometer from Waters
spectrometer, along with a line of porous silicon-coated target
plates and new reference standards,
Waters has launched a new MALDI-TOF (time of flight) mass spectrometer at the ongoing International Mass Spectrometry Society conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. The new system should start rolling out in the fourth quarter of this year.
The new Micromass MALDI micro system retains the small footprint of earlier products in the range, but provides a leap forward in capabilities and reliability, providing results in a minute or less.
The new machine "represents the simplest solution yet for obtaining high quality data by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation (MALDI) MS, used for molecular weight measurements of proteins, peptides, polysaccharides, nucleic acids, synthetic polymers and small molecules".
Waters has also introduced a new line of target plates, called MassPREP DIOS-Target, which are designed to make sample focusing and cleanup more efficient. The plates have a porous silicon coating and improve the selectivity of MALDI-TOF and make it easier to perform small molecule analyses, and complement the company's MassPREP ProTarget for large molecules. A 96-well DIOS plate can be analysed in less than 10 minutes, according to Waters.
"Traditional MALDI MS analysis requires a stainless steel plate coated with an organic matrix in order to dissolve and promote ionisation of the analyte. Not so with DIOS MS," said Waters. The company noted that DIOS (desorption/ionisation on silicon) MS is a breakthrough matrix-free technique that is unhampered by interfering background matrix peaks commonly observed with MALDI MS analyses at lower mass ranges.
Waters said it intends to pair the Micromass MALDI micro with its high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) products, specialty chemistries and new software and sample pretreatment technologies.
"These application-specific system solutions will be configured to meet the needs of scientists who want to minimise time spent on method development and system optimisation," according to Waters.
It added that the system is compatible with robotic sample processing and automated MALDI target spotting devices for unattended operation, increased throughput and reproducibility. In addition, integration with Waters preparative chromatography systems makes it suitable for analysis of simple protein mixtures and highly polydisperse polymers.
Meanwhile, MassPREP sample preparation products are also being introduced at the IMSC meeting, including a range of innovative, high-quality reference standards and purified matrices, designed to calibrate and troubleshoot chromatographic and mass spectrometry systems, simplify system validation and ensure the reproducibility of results.
