Reliable procedures to evaluate and repair crosstalk for bioanalytical MS/MS assays

Louis-Philippe Morin is a senior instrument application specialist at Algorithme Pharma, a CRO located in Laval, Canada. He has been working in the bioanalysis industry for the past 10 years where he became a subject matter expert in analytical instrumentation, especially in the MS field. His responsibilities in his current position are to optimize the workflow of the laboratory and to find new procedures, or approaches, to fix complex analytical problems. Louis-Philippe's expertise acquired over the years has led him to multiple publications regarding instrumentation. LC-MS/MS is the analytical technique of choice for the quantification of drugs in biological fluids. In recent years, MS/MS detection has been impacted by the rapid evolution of bioanalysis industry requirements. The availability of fast chromatographic systems, the demand for wider dynamic ranges and the extensive use of stable isotope-labeled internal standards in bioanalysis has pushed some triple quadrupole detectors to their limits of operation. Consequently, this situation has led to a re-evaluation of the problem of crosstalk as a potential cause of issues in bioanalysis. In this article, the importance of crosstalk verification on the MS/MS instrument will be demonstrated. Additionally, procedures to identify, evaluate and fix possible crosstalk issues during bioanalytical assays on MS/MS instruments are proposed.