The Agilent 5975C GC/MSD combines the superior capabilities of the Agilent 7890A GC, also announced at Pittcon, with an unprecedented ability to detect trace compounds in complex matrices
"GC/MS users are increasingly faced with finding and identifying very small amounts of compounds in dirty mixtures," said Chris Toney, Agilent vice president and general manager, GC/MS.
"This next-generation GC/MS platform delivers the power to analyse these complex samples with precision, speed and ease, and this extends to more dependable analysis of simpler samples as well".
Trace-level sensitivity.
The Agilent 5975C GC/MSD is the first instrument to feature Agilent's exclusive trace ion detection capability, which dramatically reduces baseline noise and improves peak shape and spectral fidelity.
This feature produces better library matches at trace levels.
Combined with Agilent's unique deconvolution reporting software (DRS) and databases, compounds can be detected even when they coelute, and much of the tedium is removed from complex analyses.
For example, 17 surface-water samples that previously took a skilled analyst eight hours to evaluate took just 30 minutes in an automated process using DRS.
Furthermore, an additional 99 compounds were detected that had previously been missed.
The platform has other features that also increase productivity and flexibility.
In addition to higher-sensitivity specifications with helium, the Agilent 7890A and 5975C now offer a hydrogen carrier gas specification for labs concerned about helium's growing scarcity and cost.
The Agilent 7890A and 5975C are designed for safe, routine operation with hydrogen for faster analysis.
Agilent has extended the MS capabilities of the 5975C.
A new high-temperature ion source operates up to 350C.
This higher temperature, combined with Agilent's exclusive heated quadrupole and automated bakeout cycle, delivers superior analytical performance while requiring minimal maintenance, even with dirty samples.
Capillary-flow technology boosts productivity.
In addition to all the chromatography benefits that exclusive Agilent capillary-flow technology offers through the 7890A GC, the QuickSwap accessory for the 5975C GC/MSD permits changing the column without venting the MS detector.
The time required for this job is reduced from hours to minutes.
"The Agilent capillary-flow technology quickswap module has been a real time-saver," said Dan Wright, laboratory director, Shealy Environmental Services.
"Typically, changing the column in our mass spec takes the better part of a day.
"We have to vent the system, install the new column, wait for it to pump down to vacuum, then bake it out for a couple of hours to remove moisture".
"The QuickSwap is rock-solid, and it doesn't leak or allow air into the MSD.
"As a result, it now takes us about five minutes to change a column and we're back to calibrating, then analysing samples".
The Agilent 5975C GC/MSD is designed to meet the needs of a wide range of users, from single-instrument labs to the largest, networked environments.
The platform is integrated with Agilent's full-featured GC/MSD ChemStation software for data acquisition, processing and reporting.
It is also compatible with Agilent's Enterprise Content Management system to seamlessly manage data from multiple instruments using a central repository.
The Agilent 5975C GC/MSD will be available to order from 1 March 2007.
