Future developments for triple quadrupole mass spectrometers: not just hardware

“Modern triple quadrupole instruments allow significantly more productivity than the early instruments. They are easier to operate, rugged, stable and compliant software is readily available...” Commercial triple quadrupole mass spectrometers with atmospheric pressure ionization (API) sources have been widely used in pharmaceutical analysis for decades. The adoption of this system as the gold standard in regulated bioanalysis has its origins in the late 1980s. At that point in time, HPLC with UV, EC or FL detection were the analytical methods of choice, with ELISA, GC–MS and GC–MS/MS used sparingly and for specific projects. Beyond ESI and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization...