LCGC TV: Luigi Mondello on the Potential of Mass Spectrometry to Replace Chromatography

In this new video from LCGC TV, Christian Wachsmuth from the University of Regensburg in Germany compares the performance of different ionization methods for GC–MS in metabolic fingerprinting. He also goes on to talk about how GC–MS could be applied in a clinical setting and what developments are needed for this to happen.

In this video, Robert T. Kennedy of the University of Michigan discusses the role of liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) in the rapid development of metabolomics and the challenge of dealing with all the data. He then goes onto talk about the methods used in a recent study on glucose metabolism to analyse complex metabolic pathways and the challenges of using smaller samples.

Estrogen is implicated in numerous regulatory roles in the human body, and even when present at low concentrations it can have a big effect on physiological processes. Kevin Schug from the University of Texas Arlington, USA, gives the main factors to consider when analyzing different types of biological fluids and gives his advice for scientists who want to begin using 2D LC–MS–MS.

Mycotoxins are an important group of secondary metabolites produced by fungi that can cause disease in humans and animals. Rudolf Krska from BOKU, IFA-Tulln, in Vienna, Austria, describes why he uses LC–MS–MS in his analysis of mycotoxins and offers advice to separation scientists thinking about using the technique in their research.

HILIC was introduced more than 50 years ago but has attracted more attention recently. Giorgia Greco from the Technische Universität Munchen in Germany discusses the different options available for combining HILIC to reversed-phase LC, and how HILIC can be hyphenated with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization MS.

Performing liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) analysis on tissue samples requires sample homogenization, which destroys the sample and loses its spatial resolution. Gérard Hopfgartner from the University of Geneva, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, presents an alternative method coupling liquid extraction surface analysis with modifier-assisted differential ion mobility spectrometry, describes other application areas, and gives his opinion on whether this is the beginning of the end for chromatography.