Quattro-II (Micromass/ Waters) 
The Quattro-II is a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer with electrospray (ESI) ionization and MS/MS capabilities. This instrument is primarily used for analysis of large biomolecules, such as intact proteins, nucleic acids (e.g. RNA, tRNA, DNA oligos, or PCR products) with sample introduction by infusion, but can also be used occasionally for LC/MS or LC/MS/MS of small-molecule samples that require LC introduction.
Intact protein molecules (potentially up to 150k Da or 200 kDa MW) can be accurately measured if the sample is prepared in high purity. Multiply-charged molecular ions are deconvoluted with MaxEnt software (Micromass) and the resultant neutral Molecular-mass spectrum typically has mass errors less than 0.005% with a quality spectrum (e.g. less than 2 to 3 Da at 50,000 MW).
For applications of the instrument, see available services.
Quattro-II Performance and Capabilities
- ESI/MS and ESI/MS/MS (sample introduction by infusion)
- LC/MS or LC/MS/MS (microbore column at 3 to 10 ul/min flow rate)
- 0.1 Da mass error (small molecules)
- Intact protein or nucleic acid analysis (e.g. typical mass error <3 Da at 50,000 MW)
- Femtomole to picomole-range sensitivity
- (large intact proteins usually require picomole amounts and must be highly purified)
- MS/MS with low-energy CID fragmentation for structure elucidation
- MS/MS scan functions:
- Daughter-ion (product-ion)
- Parent-ion (precursor-ion)
- Neutral-loss
How the Quattro-II is Equipped
- Microspray ESI (infusion of samples)
- LC/MS or LC/MS/MS
- Collision-induced dissociation (CID)
The facility is also equipped with several other instruments:
