Liquid chromatography is a fundamental separation technique in the life sciences and related fields of chemistry. Unlike gas chromatography, which is unsuitable for nonvolatile and thermally fragile molecules, liquid chromatography can safely separate a very wide range of organic compounds, from small-molecule drug metabolites to peptides and proteins. LCMS stands for Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry. It refers to the combination of liquid chromatographic separation with mass spectrometric detection.
Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS) is an analytical chemistry laboratory technique for identification, quantitation and mass analysis of materials. This technique consents for the structural interpretation of unknown molecules through fragmentation. Similar to HPLC, Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry utilizes a compound’s intrinsic affinity for both a “mobile phase” (typically a buffered solvent) and a “stationary phase” (porous solid support with specialized coating).
Basically, a pump is used to provide a continuous flow of a solvent into which a dissolved sample is introduced. Once the sample is in the solvent flow, it travels through an analytical column. The compounds present in the sample mixture are then separated depending on their affinity to the coated particles in the column. After the components in the sample are separated, they pass through a mass detector. The mass detector response and the “retention time” of the compound(s) of interest may then be compared to a reference material.
The global LCMS Market is segmented on the basis of product types, application, and region. On the basis of type, the global market is classified into Single Quadrupole LC-MS, Triple Quadrupole LC-MS, and Ion Trap LC-MS. Single Quadrupole LC-MS – robust and reliable mass detection technique for many different functional areas of LC-MS across many different industries. Designed for compatibility with UPLC, UPSFC, HPLC, and AutoPurification, and with a wide range of ionization options, single quadrupole mass detection easy way to generate an extra dimension of information from separation.
Triple Quadrupole LC-MS –also known as QqQ, is a tandem MS method in which the first and third quadrupole act as mass filters and the second causes fragmentation of the analyte through interaction with a collision gas, it is a radiofrequency- only quadrupole, and can be used in either SIM or scan mode.
Ion Trap LC-MS – use three hyperbolic electrodes to trap ions in a three-dimensional space using static and radio frequency voltages. he two most common types of ion trap are the Penning trap, which forms a potential via a combination of electric and magnetic fields, and the Paul trap which forms a potential via a combination of static and oscillating electric fields.
On the basis of product types, the global market is classified into HPLC, RPLC, and NPLC. Methods in which the stationary phase is more polar than the mobile phase are termed as “Normal Phase Liquid Chromatography (NPLC)” and the opposite is termed as “Reversed Phase Liquid Chromatography (RPLC). NPLC - that separate molecules depending on their polarity, these columns are made out of silica with polar functional groups covalently attached, polar molecules take longer to pass through these columns because they are attracted to it through dipole-dipole interactions.
On the basis of applications, the global market is classified into pharmacokinetics, Proteomics/metabolomics, Drug development, and others (protein characterization, targeted peptide quantification, Lipidomics, small molecule drug research). Geographically, the global market is segmented into North America, Europe, Japan, Latin America, India, and ROW. The key players are Hitachi, Shimadzu, Thermo Fisher Scientific, AB Sciex., Bruker, Waters, Agilent Technologies, Gilson, Agela Technologies, Indigo BioSystems, JASCO, and Jiangsu Skyray Instrument
