Correction of Retention Time Drift with Scout-MRM

A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium whose contents cause a processor to perform a method for correcting a measured retention time or expected retention time of an ion intensity measurement, the method comprising:

• (a) providing a system, wherein the system comprises one or more distinct software modules, and wherein the distinct software modules comprise an input module and an analysis module;
• (b) receiving a measured sentinel retention time for each of a plurality of sentinel ion intensity measurements using the input module, wherein, during acquisition, a plurality of ion intensity measurements is divided into two or more groups so that different groups of the two or more groups are measured separately and at least one sentinel ion intensity measurement in each group of the two or more groups is selected to identify a next group of the two or more groups to be measured;
• and
• (c) correcting a measured retention time or an expected retention time of at least one non-sentinel ion intensity measurement of the two or more groups using the plurality of measured sentinel retention times using the analysis module.

A system for correcting a measured retention time or expected retention time of an ion intensity measurement, comprising:

• a processor that
• (a) receives a measured sentinel retention time for each of a plurality of sentinel ion intensity measurements, wherein, during acquisition, a plurality of ion intensity measurements is divided into two or more groups so that different groups of the two or more groups are measured separately and at least one sentinel ion intensity measurement in each group of the two or more groups is selected to identify a next group of the two or more groups to be measured;
• and
• (b) corrects a measured retention time or an expected retention time of at least one non-sentinel ion intensity measurement of the two or more groups using the plurality of measured sentinel retention times.