Multi-track single- and dual-channel plastic microchips for electrospray mass spectrometry

Disposable plastic electrospray chips are particularly attractive for the automated analysis of organic compounds and organometallic compounds. Automated multi-track chip-based infusion electrospray mass spectrometry of low molecular weight compounds using an eight-channel plastic chip is presented. For that purpose, the commercial interface of a triple quadrupole linear ion trap was modified. A dual-channel plastic microchip, where two physically separated channels arrive very close to each other at the chip tip, was used to perform lock-mass accurate mass measurements on a quadrupole-time-of-flight instrument. The same chip was used to demonstrate the formation of an organometallic complex in solution on the chip tip. Furthermore, the potential to control the flow rate of each channel individually, which opens new possibilities in the study of supramolecular complexes, is discussed.