Triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (TQMS) was developed in the late 1970's by Enke and Yost and commercialized in the early 1980s. It was initially rather slow to be used as an analytical tool, but when electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) methods that were developed in the mid-to-late 1980s made it practical to couple liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, TQMS was widely adopted. The gentle ionization of ESI and APCI combined with collision-induced-dissociation (CID) in the triple quadrupole made an ideal combination. LC/ESI/MS/MS became a routine quantitation tool in clinical trials for new drugs, and the mass spectrometry business grew rapidly. Commercial growth has stimulated scientific development in both industrial and academic labs, bringing mass spectrometry and analytical chemistry into the biology labs. This talk will focus on the development of TQMS and the technical improvements that have fueled its growth.

Triple quadrupole mass spectrometry: 30 years of technical advances

242nd National Meeting (2011)

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