LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY - GENERAL-PRINCIPLES AND INSTRUMENTATION

In the past 20 years the on-line combination of liquid chromatography (LC) and mass spectrometry (MS) has become a robust and routinely applicable analytical tool. Principles and developments in the instrumentation for LC-MS are reviewed, with special attention for those interfaces that are likely to be the most important in the coming years: electrospray, atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization and particle beam. Further, attention is paid to some recent developments, which may result in important future LC-MS instrumentation.