High-Energy AXIMA-TOF²™ MALDI CID MS from Shimadzu Delivers Sensitivity, Flexibility

The AXIMA-TOF²™ high-performance MALDI TOF-TOF mass spectrometer from Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, Inc. (SSI) is making its PittCon debut at booth #1820 during this year’s show.

Representing the next generation in high-energy collision-induced dissociation (CID) MS/MS instrumentation, the AXIMA-TOF² brings enhanced flexibility to life-science laboratories, significantly extending the type of analyses they can provide.

AXIMA-TOF² includes Shimadzu Biotech’s intuitive software and XML data exporting as a standard features, so the unit delivers maximum results from minimum user input, making it ideal for use in open-access labs.

Beyond its use in proteomics, the AXIMA-TOF² is adept at analyzing and processing polymers, oligonucleotides, SNPs, metabolites, lipids, carbohydrates and small molecules. Using high-energy CID to augment fragmentation of analytes, Shimadzu Biotech’s AXIMA-TOF² mass spectrometer maximizes its curved field reflectron technology to deliver MS/MS data without the need for post-acceleration.

“The AXIMA-TOF² makes best use of the proprietary reflectron technology to deliver real high-energy CID MS/MS fragments with optimal ion transmission,” noted Dr. Emmanuel Raptakis, product manager for Shimadzu Biotech. “This device is perfectly suited for a multitude of applications where sensitivity counts, ranging from LC-MALDI protein identification to solving challenging problems in de novo sequencing. In fact, high-energy CID MS/MS analysis of a wide variety of compound classes, including lipids, carbohydrates and even valued-added industrial polymers, is yielding important structural information previously out of reach with other, lower energy MS/MS instruments.”

The unit’s novel ion-gating technology affords industry-leading precursor ion isolation resolution, allowing the successful MS/MS analysis of challenging, complex mixtures. The curved field reflectron technology, under license from Johns Hopkins University, MD, US, has been updated to enhance the sensitivity and quality of high-energy CID MS/MS. Ion scattering is minimized by utilizing a totally gridless ion path and helium as the collision gas of choice.

The AXIMA-TOF² key benefits include:

• Highest energy collisions (20keV laboratory-frame collisions)
• Outstanding sensitivity
• Optimal precursor ion selection
• Manual or fully automated operation for seamless analysis
• High-resolution MS data in reflectron mode for accurate peptide mass fingerprinting
• Proteomics analysis capabilities
• LC-MALDI software for precise identification of off-line separated complex mixtures via automated MS/MS and integrated database searching

The AXIMA-TOF² comes with multiple software features including:

• Proteomics Suite for single sample manual acquisition or fully automated data dependent peptide mass fingerprinting and MS/MS for protein identification with integrated Mascot^® searching.
• LC MALDI Integrated Package provides total support for LC MALDI-based experiments with fully automated acquisition, including an intensity map of all sample spots across the target to assess the distribution of peptides and identify the position of the apex of chromatographic peaks, compilation of ‘candidate’ list, automatic MS/MS and subsequent database searching.
• Biomarker Recognition identifies biomarker patterns and distribution compounds of interest in clinical samples. Data can be easily exported into alternative processing packages.
• Functional Genomics offers the user excellent linear mode performance that lends itself to alternative applications such as oligonucleotide and SNP analysis and QC processes.
• QC Applications, with Launchpad™ software, includes a module offering fully automated QC analysis of large numbers of samples, complete with a user-defined report indicating the presence or absence of the target compound, an estimate of purity and known contaminants, and adducts or truncated/extended analogues.