3. The benefits of GC-MS/MS coupling

3.1 Comparison between GC-MS/MS coupling and tandem MS/MS analysis

The GC/MS/MS coupling and MS/MS tandem mass spectrometry techniques meet the sensitivity and selectivity criteria required for trace analysis. The strategy adopted in these two techniques to increase selectivity is similar, in that the addition of an extra mass filter (compared respectively to the GC-MS technique in the case of GC-MS/MS coupling and to the single MS technique in the case of MS/MS tandem mass spectrometry) is designed to increase effective discrimination between the signal corresponding to the compound of interest and chemical noise. Because of the independent mode of operation of each sequential selection step, both techniques lead to improved filtering of chemical noise and lower detection limits....