The Use of Qtrap Technology in Drug Metabolism

Advances in mass spectrometry continue to bring new and exciting capabilities to the study of drug metabolism. This review covers the hybrid linear ion trap - triple quadrupole mass spectrometer, the QTrap. While still a recent addition to the arsenal of mass spectrometry techniques available to the metabolism scientist, reports in the literature highlight the advantages of the system for metabolite identification. The system combines the selective scans of the triple quadrupole with the high speed, high sensitivity of the ion trap allowing metabolites to be found and characterized in a single scan. Additionally, the system has MS(3) and time delayed fragmentation scans that aid in structure elucidation. Since the fragmentation occurs in the collision cell of the triple quadrupole, the traditionally rich fragmentation of the collision cell fragmentation is preserved. In addition to helping to make traditional processes more efficient, work has been done that shows the potential of the instrument to change traditional DMPK approaches. Researchers have reported methods that allow for both qualitative analysis of circulating metabolites and quantification of parent drug within the same analysis. The approaches reported show how the instrument can be used to collect more information from every sample and potentially streamline typical drug metabolism assays.