Waters Corp.'s new Acquity TQD puts the power of Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UPLC/MS/MS) into the hands of chromatographers. This UPLC/MS/MS system takes the inherent selectivity and robustness of tandem quadrupole MS/MS and combines it with the speed and sensitivity provided by UPLC technology to give chromatographers significant productivity advantages.
The Acquity TQD is a benchtop, ultra-compact, tandem quadrupole, atmospheric pressure ionization (API) mass detector-based system specifically designed for routine UPLC/MS/MS analyses. With Waters' IntelliStart technology to integrate its internal calibration fluidics and advanced diagnostics software, the system automatically tunes and calibrates the AcquityTQ Detector and conducts full UPLC/MS/MS performance checks. This allows chromatographers to easily and confidently acquire UPLC/MS/MS data in routine analytical and open access applications, according to the company. In particular, Waters Acquity TQ Detector has been optimized for such applications as high-throughput drug metabolism studies, food safety and quality testing, environmental monitoring, and clinical therapeutic drug monitoring.
The Acquity TQD is the also first complete UPLC/MS/MS system to feature Waters Connections Insight, an intelligent device diagnostic monitoring service that increases system uptime by securely collecting information about instrument conditions and then encrypting and transmitting it to secure proxy servers at Waters. In this way, preventive maintenance procedures can be performed before the scientist is even aware of the need for them.
The Acquity TQD utilizes T-Wave technology to enable rapid MS/MS acquisition speeds, delivering high productivity in UPLC and multi-residue applications. The new instrument design and its electronics are provided in a compact package that is 25% smaller than Waters' Quattro micro mass spectrometer. The rapid MS/MS capability (5ms dwell times) and fast polarity switching of the AcquityTQD make it an ideal system for high speed quantification when coupled with the AcquityUPLC System on the front end.
The patented ZSpray (dual orthogonal sampling) interface includes, as standard, multi-mode ESCi ionization switching for atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and electrospray (ESI) ionization in the same run for added productivity. Dedicated IonSABRE APCI and atmospheric pressure photo-ionization (APPI) probes are also available. System control and data acquisition can be performed with either Waters MassLynx 4.1 or Empower 2 Software. This delivers MS/MS capability to Empower network customers for the first time.
Waters plans to begin shipping the new Acquity TQD at the end of the year.
