ALMSCO to Showcase BenchTOF-dx™ Mass Spectrometer at PittCon (Booth #1322,1323)

Press release

ALMSCO International to Showcase BenchTOF-dx™ Mass Spectrometer Providing Sensitive Analysis without Compromising Speed or Selectivity on booths #1322, 1323

ALMSCO International, a division of Markes International Ltd., will be on booths #1322, 1323 at Pittcon 2011, showcasing its BenchTOF-dx, a mass spectrometer offering the sensitivity and clarity needed to identify the nature of known and unknown compounds at trace levels. In addition, the recently launched Targetview™ software will also be displayed. This innovative software has been designed to automate and improve the detection and measurement of multiple target chemicals in complex GC/MS data sets. When combined with Markes International’s market-leading systems for thermal desorption (TD), this provides a complete solution for analyzing ultra-trace level components in complex samples.

ALMSCO’s innovative bench-top time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer, BenchTOF-dx, will be displayed on booths #1322, 1323. Laboratories that screen samples at trace levels will benefit from a method that combines speed and resolution with uncompromised spectral quality. The novel technology enables analysts to screen for both known and unknown compounds at much lower levels with a high degree of definition and clarity.

While alternative techniques offer such a high level of sensitivity they provide too much detail about the identity of the compounds, making it difficult to characterize them at very low levels, the BenchTOF-dx screens samples at trace levels while maintaining sensitivity, speed of analyses and selectivity. An analogy that demonstrates the difference between this mass spectrometer and other instruments that perform high resolution accurate mass (HRAM) MS is that of Google Maps™. This web mapping application enables users to zoom into a house so closely that all that can be viewed are the bricks, thereby making it impossible to identify the house or its location. This feature of Google Maps offers the same results as those generated when using HRAM MS for compound screening. In contrast, the BenchTOF-dx™ provides the equivalent of a Google Map image where the zoom feature has been used at a level at which each house and its specific location in a given street can be clearly distinguished and identified. In the same way the technique used by the BenchTOF-dx™ can clearly distinguish between the different compounds in a sample.

The BenchTOF-dx offers superior full-scan sensitivity at typical GC-quad SIM levels. Trace compounds can be clearly identified, quantified and differentiated from one another, while also retaining the required attributes of speed and selectivity. BenchTOF-dx readily integrates with existing gas chromatographs (GCs) and associated data handling / control packages, enabling analysts to screen samples for trace target compounds at much lower levels on a routine basis and with a negligible learning curve.

ALMSCO will also display its TargetView software. This innovative software benefits users in fields ranging from environmental monitoring to forensic science. TargetView provides a simple and more accurate way of identifying which target compounds are present in a sample, as well as providing reliable peak area information to complement and support quantification by conventional GC/MS data handling packages.

For further information on BenchTOF-dx, TargetView, or the ALMSCO International range of products, please visit booth #1322, 1323 at Pittcon 2011. Alternatively, please visit www.ALMSCO.com, email enquiries@ALMSCO.com or phone +44 (0)1443 230935.

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For further press information please contact: Lindsay Baldry, The Scott Partnership, 1 Whiteside, Station Road, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire CW4 8AA, United Kingdom, Tel: + 44 1477 539 539, Fax: +44 1477 539 540, E-mail: ALMSCO@scottpr.com