Gas Chromatography Mass spectrometry lab setup:

Setting up a GCMS laboratory is a very complex process. The GCMS laboratory is very much essential in recent dates for geochemical research. In this article, I will discuss step by step how to set up a GCMS laboratory in your lab.

For Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry lab setup you have to do the following things:

1. Decide the type of GCMS you need to set up:

You have to start your research topic-related biomarker analysis. What is a biomarker? A biomarker is the molecular fossils by which you can identify the environment of the past. A biomarker is produced from organic molecules or liquid or fat after the decomposition below the earth’s surface by the increasing temperature and pressures it becomes a more stable molecule. Is called the Biomarker.

If your research is related to biomarkers then you to identify the biomarker from the sedimentary rocks.　If all these are ok then you are in the right position to set up your biomarker laboratory. Your research will be based on the analysis of the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry machine.

Fig: Gas Chromatography Mass spectrometry Laboratory.

Learn more about: What is Gas Chromatography Machine?

Gas Chromatography (GC) is a machine that has an oven inside the machine which transports the sample through the 30 m wire and passes the sample molecules to the other end to identify the molecules by the GC-connected computer. Whereas GCMS has a Mass spectrometry machine that has a Mass spectrometry detector to detect the molecules transported from the GC part.

The GCMS/MS is a stand-alone machine to identify the molecules by the first quadruple of spectrometry then the molecules are reidentified by the second quadruple (MS) which is a more accurate but expensive machine for the biomarker analysis. The GCMS/MS is a stand-alone machine than GC/MS or GC only. Hence, we recommend using the GCMS/MS machine for the identification of the Biomarker.

What are the basic principles and techniques of the Gas chromatograph mass spectometer?

Gas Chromatography mass spectrometry principle.

The gas chromatograph mass spectrometer has the basic principle of separating the compounds like a race in the real field. Let’s discuss the details. Suppose you are running in a competition all the competitors will start to run at a certain time and based on the weight and characteristics (of course the skill to run) someone will go faster and someone follow them. In the final stage, only one will be champion and win and all the other people come later one after another and reach the target destination.

The gas chromatograph mass spectrometer also does the same job. In the stationary phase like the capillary column, of the gc ms instrument, all this race happened. In this competition, the competitors are the particle or the gas molecules. Through the capillary column, the samples are injected and all the samples pass through the stationary phase of the capillary column to be detected in the gc ms analysis quadrupole system.

How does gas chromatography mass spectrometry work ?

The gas chromatography mass spectrometry works based on 6 basic functions:

They are as follows;

Compound separation by gas chromatography:

The GC (Gas Chromatography) has an oven. On the side of the oven, there is a capillary column about 60 meters long with a diameter of 0.6 mm. This capillary column is called the stationary phase. In the stationary phase, the gas molecule or liquid samples are passed through to the mass spectra.

When the temperature in the GC oven increases the samples are heated up and start to move this is called the mobile phase of the gc ms analyses. Through the course of time in the capillary column, the samples are separated into large samples and small samples in size while they start to move.

Transfer of separated compounds to the ionizing chamber of the mass spectrometer:

In this stage, all the separated compounds are transferred to the ionizing chamber of the mass spectra.

Ionization:
Mass analysis:

Based on the retention time, mass to charge ratio and time of elution, the molecules are analyzed by the gc ms analysis system in the 1st quadrupole gc ms.