Dynamically concentrating ion packets in the extraction region of a TOF mass analyzer in targeted acquisition

A method for operating an ion guide and a time-of-flight (TOF) mass analyzer of a tandem mass spectrometer to dynamically concentrate or not concentrate product ions with different mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) values before injection into the TOF mass analyzer based on a previously measured intensity of a targeted product ion in a targeted acquisition method, comprising:

• continuously receiving and ionizing a sample containing a known compound using an ion source device, producing an ion beam;
• receiving product ions fragmented from a known precursor ion of the known compound selected from the ion beam in a targeted acquisition method using an ion guide defining a guide axis;
• receiving product ions ejected from the ion guide into an extraction region along the guide axis and measuring the intensity of at least one known product ion of the known precursor ion at two or more time steps of the targeted acquisition method using a TOF mass analyzer downstream of the ion guide,
• wherein the ion guide is adapted to provide an ion control field comprising a component for restraining movement of the product ions normal to the guide axis and comprising a component for controlling the movement of the product ions parallel to the guide axis,
• wherein the ion control field has a controllable potential profile along the guide axis of the ion guide, the profile being alternately switchable to a continuous mode where there is a continuous ejection of product ions from the ion guide to the TOF mass analyzer irrespective of the m/z values of the product ions or to a sequential mode where there is a sequential ejection of the product ions from the ion guide to the TOF mass analyzer according to the m/z values of the product ions, and
• wherein for the sequential mode the same ion energy is applied to the product ions over their travel through the ion guide to the extraction region irrespective of m/z value of the product ions and the product ions are sequentially released with the same ion energy from the ion guide to provide for arrival of product ions of substantially all released m/z values within the extraction region at substantially the same time;
• instructing the ion guide to eject the product ions of the known precursor ion using the sequential mode and instructing the TOF mass analyzer to measure the intensity of the at least one known product ion at each time step of the two or more time steps using a processor;
• and
• instructing the ion guide during remaining time steps, based on the measured intensity of the at least one known product ion determined to be increasing and being greater than a predefined sequential mode intensity threshold at a time step of remaining time steps, to switch to the continuous mode and instructing the TOF mass analyzer to measure the intensity of the at least one known product ion at each time step of the remaining time steps to prevent saturation of the intensity of the at least one known product ion using the processor.

A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium whose contents include a program with instructions being executed on a processor so as to perform a method for operating an ion guide and a time-of-flight (TOF) mass analyzer of a tandem mass spectrometer to dynamically concentrate or not concentrate product ions with different mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) values before injection into the TOF mass analyzer based on a previously measured intensity of a targeted product ion in a targeted acquisition 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;
• instructing an ion guide defining a guide axis to receive product ions fragmented from a known precursor ion of a known compound selected from an ion beam in a targeted acquisition method using the control module, wherein an ion source device continuously receives and ionizes a sample containing the known compound, producing the ion beam;
• instructing a TOF mass analyzer downstream of the ion guide to receive product ions ejected from the ion guide into an extraction region of the TOF mass analyzer along the guide axis and measure the intensity of at least one known product ion of the known precursor ion at two or more time steps of the targeted acquisition method using the control module,
• wherein the ion guide is adapted to provide an ion control field comprising a component for restraining movement of the product ions normal to the guide axis and comprising a component for controlling the movement of the product ions parallel to the guide axis,
• wherein the ion control field has a controllable potential profile along the guide axis of the ion guide, the profile being alternately switchable to a continuous mode where there is a continuous ejection of product ions from the ion guide to the TOF mass analyzer irrespective of the m/z values of the product ions or to a sequential mode where there is a sequential ejection of the product ions from the ion guide to the TOF mass analyzer according to the m/z values of the product ions, and
• wherein for the sequential mode the same ion energy is applied to the product ions over their travel through the ion guide to the extraction region irrespective of m/z value of the product ions and the product ions are sequentially released with the same ion energy from the ion guide to provide for arrival of product ions of substantially all released m/z values within the extraction region at substantially the same time;
• instructing the ion guide to eject the product ions of the known precursor ion using the sequential mode and instructing the TOF mass analyzer to measure the intensity of the at least one known product ion at each time step of the two or more time steps using the control module;
• and
• if the intensity of the at least one known product ion is increasing and is greater than a predefined sequential mode intensity threshold at a time step and if there are remaining time steps, instructing the ion guide to switch to the continuous mode and instructing the TOF mass analyzer to measure the intensity of the at least one known product ion at each time step of the remaining time steps to prevent saturation of the intensity of the at least one known product ion using the control module.