Breakthrough Redefining High-Performance Mass Spectrometry

At Pittcon 2011, Bruker announced the introduction of maXis™ 4G, its next-generation electrospray UHR-Qq-TOF mass spectrometer. Building on the success of the highly innovative maXis platform, the maXis 4G again redraws the capability map for delivering ultimate mass resolution and mass accuracy at UHPLC speed without compromising sensitivity.

The maXis 4G is a uniquely powerful mass spectrometer offering Full Sensitivity Resolution (FSR) greater than 60,000 FWHM whilst maintaining mass accuracy better than 600 ppb, even while acquiring at speeds of up to 30 full spectra per second, thus ideally matching the requirements of UHPLC rapid separations. With over 4 orders of quantitative dynamic range, the maXis 4G system is fully equipped for quantitative reporting even at trace levels with a novel challenge to the industry of an extracted ion chromatogram specification (XIC) of 1 millidalton. The maXis 4G also boasts an industry-leading sensitivity specification, which Bruker – again uniquely in the industry – records at full resolution. Other high-end Qq-TOF systems may nominally reach 40,000 resolution, but only at the expense of a dramatic sensitivity loss by large factors due to special resolution-enhancing, but sensitivity degrading techniques like ion beam slicing and W-mode.

Several design advances allow the maXis series to occupy a technology class all of its own, delivering the only simultaneous full sensitivity and high-resolution (FSR) specification in the industry. Patented inflight ion optics refocus ions even during the TOF process itself, and allow the full resolving potential of the long flight path to be utilised, unobstructed by multiple reflectrons or ion beam slicers which all degrade sensitivity dramatically.

The maXis 4G IonCoolerTM 4G technology energetically focuses ions entering the TOF region to yield maximum sensitivity without mass resolution loss. The cumulative effect enables unprecedented FSR performance, perfectly addressing requirements in a number of challenging fields of analysis across a wide mass range, from intact proteins to small molecules. Routine and accurate biopharmaceutical quality control of products, such as antibody proteins and antisense molecules, has entered a new era with the introduction of maXis 4G and new BioPharma CompassTM software, a combination of unrivalled capabilities for the effective resolution of large molecules, simultaneous identification of trace impurities and a software tool tailored to the needs of an industry requiring seamless and user- enabled control.