A straightforward means of coupling preparative high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Flow splitting to a mass spectrometer is a common way of coupling a highly specific detector to preparative or semi-preparative high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) purification of combinatorial libraries, drug metabolites, and characterizable impurities. The sensitive mass spectrometer consumes only a small fraction of the analyte while providing online structure-specific detection, and its output can thus be used to trigger collection of the desired fraction. Coupling mass spectrometry to preparative HPLC is difficult due to the susceptibility of the detector to fouling under conditions of high analyte concentration or solute amount, or to changes in solvent composition. We report here on a device, the mass rate attenuator (MRA), which automatically produces split ratios over a range of 100:1 to 100 000:1 under programmable user control. The MRA is a flow-control device that periodically gates a small aliquot from one liquid stream into another. The design allows the user to set the frequency of the gating without interruption of the HPLC flow stream. The MRA also allows control of the volume of the aliquot that is transferred between the flow streams. This additional control, compared to passive splitting devices, facilitates optimization of the tubing connecting the separation, detection and collection events. We demonstrate that such optimization can reduce the volume of the collected fraction without compromising recovery, thus reducing the time spent in evaporating solvents to reclaim purified products. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.