Table 2.

Comparison of popular mass analyzers used in plasma and serum metabolomics.

Mass Analyzer	Resolution	Mass Range (Da)	Acquisition Speed	Major Benefits	Major Limitations
Quadrupole	~1000	50–6000	Medium	Highly selective Well suited for pairing with GC Relatively cheap Compact	Low resolution Narrow mass range
Ion trap	~1000	50–4000	Medium	Compact Relatively cheap Highly sensitive	Narrow dynamic range Limited resolution Requires pulsed introduction to MS
FT-ICR	over 1,000,000	10–10,000	Slow	High sensitivity High reproducibility High resolving power Wide dynamic range	Expensive and bulky Slow scanning Specific coupling with chromatography systems
Orbitrap	up to 240,000	40–4000	Slow	High resolution Compact and elegant solution	Narrow mass range
TOF	up to 60,000	20–500,000	Fast	Highly sensitive Wide mass range Fast scanning Well suited for pairing with GC	Requires pulsed introduction to MS Requires fast solutions for data acquisition