Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi Medical Corporation

Takayuki Nabeshima

Yasuaki Takada

Minoru Sakairi

Hideaki Koizumi

Yukiko Hirabayashi

Atsumu Hirabayashi

Tadao Mimura

Yuichiro Hashimoto

Etsuji Yamamoto

Yasushi Terui

Tetsuhiko Takahashi

Yoshitaka Bito

Kageyoshi Katakura

Kiyomi Yoshinari

Yoshikuni Matsunaga

Isamu Takekoshi

Satoshi Hirata

Masamichi Tsukada

Masaru Tomioka

Seiji Kamimura

Toshihiro Ishizuka

A compact, easy-to-use device is provided which takes in a sample over a shorter distance, the sample introducing time is shortened, and contamination is prevented when the sample is introduced. A burner for generating a plasma, a deflecting portion provided with parallel electrodes for deflecting ions, and an analyzer room for performing mass separation of the deflected ions, these being disposed in a plane in the horizontal direction, and a sample setting portion for setting a sample, a peristaltic pump for aspirating the sample and the burner for introducing and burning the aspirated sample are disposed in a plane in the vertical direction relative to the aforesaid plane. The sample is supplied to the burner from below, and the ions generated by the plasma are made to flow on a horizontal plane.

Plasma ion source mass spectrometer

An ion-deflecting device is located between a mass spectrometer and a detector, and undesired signal sources are prevented from reaching the detector during the ion-trapping period by switching the voltage applied to the detector between the ion-trapping period and the mass-analyzing period. A first voltage is applied to the detector during an ion-trapping period while a second voltage is applied to the detector during a mass-analyzing period. An ion-deflecting device deflects ions such that they do not reach the detector during an ion-trapping period while they do reach the detector during a mass-analyzing period. This way, the life of the detector is increased.

Mass spectrometer

A mass spectrometer comprising an ionization means for ionizing sample compounds to be analyzed mass spectroscopically in an atmospheric pressure, a sample solution supply means for supplying a solution containing the sample compounds to the ionization means, means for feeding the ions formed by the ionization means through an aperture disposed in an electrode into a vacuum region, and an ion trap type mass spectroscopic means for mass spectroscopically analyzing ions entered through the aperture into the vacuum region, in which an ion decelerating electric field forming means is disposed between the electrode disposed with the aperture and an electrode disposed with an ion entrance opening for entering the ions into the ion trap type mass spectroscopic means for forming an electric field for decelerating the ions, and the ions injected to the ion trap mass spectroscopic means is lowered. This facilitates accumulation ions in the ion trap mass spectralyzing means even if a high drift voltage is used thereby enabling high sensitivity analysis for polar compounds such as peptides.

A mass spectrometer including a sprayer for spraying a sample solution, a needle electrode for ionizing the sample contained in the sample solution, an aperture for introducing the ions of the sample into a lower pressure region having a pressure lower than the pressure of a region in which the needle electrode is disposed, and a mass spectrometric apparatus for analyzing the ions introduced from the aperture. A direction of a spray caused by the sprayer is almost perpendicular to or at an angle with respect to a center axis of the aperture, and a tip of the needle is disposed facing to an electrode having the aperture.

Mass spectrometry of solution and apparatus therefor

Plasma ion source mass spectrometers or liquid chromatograph/mass spectrometers are provided: wherein photon noises and matrix molecule ions produced by the ion source are decreased, the decrease of the quantity of signal is suppressed, and the apparatus maintenance is improved. The photon noises are decreased with a shielding plate and a 90 degrees deflector. The maintainability in cleaning is improved by a combination of a leading electrode, the shielding plate having a small hole, and a gate valve. The decrease in the quantity of signal is suppressed with the leading electrode, and a double cylindrical type static lens. Position adjustment of the leading electrode is performed with a flat plate having plural holes. Using an ion trap mass analyzer, matrix molecule ions are eliminated by applying a resonance voltage between its end cap electrodes. Decrease in the quantity of signals, which has been a problem, can be prevented, and a high transmission can be realized with a preferable reproducibility against disturbance of an electric field caused by ion lens and the like. A detectable limit of atomic ions of the sample can be improved by eliminating the matrix molecule ions.

Disclosed is a mass spectrometer having an ion trap type mass spectrometric unit, characterized in that in each of ion storage periods, ions created in an ion source ( ) are allowed to enter in a space surrounded by a ring electrode ( ) and end cap electrodes ( and ) and are confined in the space, wherein ions are detected with high sensitivities in a wide range of values of m/z (molecular weight of ion/valence number of ion) of the ions by changing the amplitude of a high-frequency voltage applied to the ring electrode ( ) in each of the ion storage periods.

A mass spectrometer comprising an ionization means for ionizing sample compounds to be analyzed mass spectro-scopically in an atmospheric pressure, a sample solution supply means for supplying a solution containing the sample compounds to the ionization means, means for feeding the ions formed by the ionization means through an aperture disposed in an electrode into a vacuum region and a ion trap type mass spectroscopic means for mass spectroscopically analyzing ions entered through the aperture into the vacuum region, in which an ion decelerating electric field forming means is disposed between the electrode disposed with the aperture and an electrode disposed with an ion entrance opening for entering the ions into the ion trap type mass spectroscopic means for forming an electric field for decelerating the ions, and the ions injected to the ion trap mass spectroscopic means is lowered. This facilitates accumulation ions in the ion trap mass spectralyzing means even if a high drift voltage is used thereby enabling high sensitivity analysis for polar compounds such as peptides.

A mass spectrometer including a sprayer for spraying a sample solution, a needle electrode for ionizing the sample contained in the sample solution, an aperture for introducing the ions of the sample into a lower pressure region having a pressure lower than the pressure of a region in which the needle electrode is disposed, and a mass spectrometric apparatus for analyzing the ions introduced from the aperture. A direction of a spray caused by the sprayer is almost perpendicular to a center axis of the aperture and a tip of the needle is disposed facing to an electrode having the aperture.

A method for performing a mass calibration under an application of a desired ion peak position of mass spectrum attained by a mass scanning of ions of substance having a known value of m/z and the known value of m/z is added with a step for ejecting an amount of unnecessary ions not contributing to the aforesaid mass calibration accumulated in the aforesaid ion trap type mass analysis region prior to the aforesaid mass scanning operation. An accumulation of a large amount of unnecessary ions in the ion trap type mass analysis region is restricted, a disturbance of electric field in the ion trap mass analysis region generated under an influence of a spatial charge caused by accumulation of the unnecessary ions can be prevented and the aforesaid mass calibration can be performed in an easy and accurate manner.

Method for mass calibration

A mass spectrometer comprising an ionization means for ionizing sample compounds to be analyzed mass spectro-scopically in an atmospheric pressure, a sample solution supply means for supplying a solution containing the sample compounds to the ionization means, means for feeding the ions formed by the ionization means through an aperture disposed in an electrode into a vacuum region, and an ion trap type mass spectroscopic means for mass spectroscopically analyzing ions entered through the aperture into the vacuum region, in which an ion decelerating electric field forming means is disposed between the electrode disposed with the aperture and an electrode disposed with an ion entrance opening for entering the ions into the ion trap type mass spectroscopic means for forming an electric field for decelerating the ions, and the ions injected to the ion trap mass spectroscopic means is lowered. This facilitates accumulation ions in the ion trap mass spectralyzing means even if a high drift voltage is used thereby enabling high sensitivity analysis for polar compounds such as peptides.

Disclosed is an ion trap mass spectrometer improved to obtain a high sensitivity without the lowering of resolution. By fitting a mesh electrode to an aperture (an ion sampling aperture or an ion extracting aperture) made in endcap electrodes constituting an ion trap mass analysis region, a radio frequency electric field in the mass analysis region is not disturbed even if the diameter of the aperture is set to a large value to heighten ion transmission efficiency. By fitting a shield electrode for preventing collision of ions with an insulated ring constituting an outer wall of the mass analysis region, charging up of the insulated ring is prevented to improve stability of detection signals. Furthermore, by arranging a shield member for shielding stray charged particles detouring through the circumference of the mass analysis region to approach an ion detector, generation of noises based on these stray charged particles is prevented.

Ion trap mass spectrometer

A mass spectrometric apparatus includes a device for supplying a sample solution to an outlet, the sample solution including a solvent and a solute, a first ionization device for receiving the sample solution from the outlet and electrospraying the received sample solution, thereby ionizing at least a portion of the received sample solution, a second ionization device for receiving at least a portion of the electrosprayed sample solution produced by the first ionization device and ionizing at least a portion of the received electrospayed sample solution, thereby producing ions, and a mass spectrometric device for receiving at least some of the ions produced by the second ionization device and analyzing masses of the received ions.

Mass spectrometry of solution and apparatus

A mass spectrometer comprising a passage through which a sample solution flows, the passage including a capillary having an open tip, the sample solution flowing through the capillary out of the open tip of the capillary, a gas passage which forms a gas flow around the open tip of the capillary, the gas flow spraying the sample solution flowing out of the open tip of the capillary, a first electrode which contacts the sample solution flowing in the passage and applies an electric potential to the sample solution flowing in the passage, a second electrode disposed around the capillary near the open tip of the capillary, the second electrode being downstream from the first electrode with respect to a direction in which the sample solution flows in the passage, there being no gap extending downstream from the open tip of the capillary to the second electrode in a direction in which the sample solution flows out of the open tip of the capillary, the second electrode being electrically isolated from the sample solution flowing in the capillary and applying an electric field to the sample solution flowing in the capillary, and an analyzer which analyzes a mass of gaseous ions formed from the sample solution sprayed by the gas flow.

Mass spectrometer and mass spectrometry method for analyzing compounds

A mass spectrometer in which, in order to reduce noise due to other particles (large charge droplets, neutral particles, photons, or the like), the orbit of ions and the orbit of other particles are separated from each other in the inside of a mass analysis region so as to make it possible to prevent the other particles from reaching an ion detection region without using any deflector.

In an analytical apparatus, an ion trap mass spectrometer and a detector for detecting ions separated in the mass spectrometer are installed in different chambers. Ions generated from an ion source and passing through two differential pumping chambers into a third chamber containing the detector are deflected from their initial trajectory into the mass spectrometer in a fourth chamber for separation. In a first embodiment, the separated ions are returned along the same path into the detector in the third chamber. According to a second embodiment, the detector is located along the path of ion travel beyond the mass spectrometer, and the separated ions pass through a second orifice in the mass spectrometer and into the detector in the third chamber.

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Kokubunji, Japan

Takayuki Nabeshima