Ioanna Ntai, Ralf Tautenhahn, Tim Stratton, Anastasia Kalli, Amanda Souza, Andreas Hühmer
Purpose: Determine the mass spectral resolution required to detect and identify the highest number of compounds from a complex sample, such as human plasma, during a 15min LC/MS run.
Methods: Human plasma (NIST SRM 1950) was analyzed at different mass spectral resolutions ranging from 15,000 to 240,000 with a Thermo Scientific™ Q Exactive™ HF Hybrid Quadrupole-Orbitrap™ mass spectrometer operated separately in both positive and negative mode. The data were analyzed using Thermo Scientific™ Compound Discoverer™ 2.1 software for metabolite identification.
Results: Increased resolving power was extremely useful in defining isotopic distribution and determining elemental composition. Compound detection improved with increasing resolution. Our findings suggest that mass spectral resolution higher than 60,000 is essential for obtaining greater metabolome coverage.
Thermo Fisher Scientific, San Jose, CA, United States
United States
