Agnostic compound elution determination

A method for detecting the separation of an unknown compound from a sample, comprising:

• instructing a separation device to separate each of one or more unknown compounds from a sample over a separation time period based on a property of the one or more unknown compounds using a processor;
• instructing an ion source device to ionize separated compounds received from the separation device using the processor, producing one or more compound precursor ions for each of the one or more unknown compounds and a plurality of background precursor ions;
• instructing a mass analyzer of a mass spectrometer to measure a precursor ion mass spectrum for the combined compound and background precursor ions received from the ion source device at each time step of a plurality of time steps spread across the separation time period using the processor, producing a plurality of precursor ion mass spectra;
• selecting one or more background precursor ions from the plurality of precursor ion mass spectra that have a resolving power in a range below a threshold resolving power expected for the mass analyzer using the processor;
• and
• detecting a separation time for one of the one or more unknown compounds when a decrease in an intensity measurement of the one or more selected background precursor ions over a time period exceeds a threshold decrease in intensity with respect to time using the processor.

A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory and tangible computer-readable storage medium whose contents include a program with instructions being executed on a processor so as to perform a method for detecting the separation of an unknown compound from a sample, the method comprising:

• providing a system, wherein the system comprises one or more distinct software modules, and wherein the distinct software modules comprise a control module and an analysis module;
• instructing a separation device to separate each of one or more unknown compounds from a sample over a separation time period based on a property of the one or more unknown compounds using the control module;
• instructing an ion source device to ionize separated compounds received from the separation device using the control module, producing one or more compound precursor ions for each of the one or more unknown compounds and a plurality of background precursor ions;
• instructing a mass analyzer of a mass spectrometer to measure a precursor ion mass spectrum for the combined compound and background precursor ions received from the ion source device at each time step of a plurality of time steps spread across the separation time period using the control module, producing a plurality of precursor ion mass spectra;
• selecting one or more background precursor ions from the plurality of precursor ion mass spectra that have a resolving power in a range below a threshold resolving power expected for the mass analyzer using the analysis module;
• and
• detecting a separation time for one of the one or more unknown compounds when a decrease in an intensity measurement of the one or more selected background precursor ions over a time period exceeds a threshold decrease in intensity with respect to time using the analysis module.