Confirmation using multiple collision cross section (“CCS”) measurements

1. A method of identifying a compound or analyte or confirming the identity of the compound or analyte comprising:

determining a physico-chemical or other property of first ions under first conditions, said first ions being analyte ions of a specific compound or analyte;

determining said physico-chemical or other property of said first ions under second different conditions, said first ions being analyte ions of said same specific compound or analyte;

determining a difference value by determining a difference between the physico-chemical or other property of said first ions as determined under said first conditions and said physico-chemical or other property of said first ions as determined under said second conditions;

recording the determined difference value; and

identifying or confirming the identity of said specific compound or analyte or determining a class of said specific compound or analyte by comparing the recorded difference value to a previously measured library difference value, the previously measured library difference value comprising a difference between the physico-chemical or other property of ions as determined under said first conditions and said physico-chemical or other property of ions as determined under said second conditions.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said physico-chemical or other property comprises drift time, ion mobility drift time, ion mobility, differential ion mobility, collision cross section, interaction cross section, ion mobility peak shape, skew of an ion mobility peak or kurtosis of an ion mobility peak.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising ionizing said specific compound or analyte to produce the first ions, wherein:

the step of determining a physico-chemical or other property of first ions under first conditions comprises determining said physico-chemical or other property of at least some of said first ions in the presence of a first buffer gas; and

the step of determining a physico-chemical or other property of first ions under second different conditions comprises determining said physico-chemical or other property of at least some of said same first ions in the presence of a second different buffer gas.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein:

said first buffer gas comprises a first gas having a first composition; and

said second buffer gas comprises a second gas having a second composition, wherein said second composition is different to said first composition.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein:

said first gas comprises one or more organic gases and/or one or more inorganic gases; and/or

said second gas comprises one or more organic gases and/or one or more inorganic gases.

6. A method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein:

said first gas comprises air, nitrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, oxygen, hydrogen, methane, argon, sulphur hexafluoride, acetylene, ammonia, benzene, butane, neon, nitrogen dioxide or sulphur dioxide; and/or

said second gas comprises air, nitrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, oxygen, hydrogen, methane, argon, sulphur hexafluoride, acetylene, ammonia, benzene, butane, neon, nitrogen dioxide or sulphur dioxide.

7. A method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein:

said first gas comprises one or more additives; and/or

said second gas comprises one or more additives.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein said one or more additives comprises a volatile organic substance.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said first ions comprise parent or precursor ions.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:

determining an ion mobility drift time difference value by determining an ion mobility drift time difference between the ion mobility drift time of said first ions under said first conditions and the ion mobility drift time of said first ions under said second different conditions, said first ions being analyte ions of said same specific compound or analyte;

recording the ion mobility drift time difference value; and

identifying or confirming the identity of said specific compound or analyte or determining a class of said specific compound or analyte by comparing the recorded ion mobility drift time difference value to a previously measured library ion mobility drift time difference value.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the ion mobility drift time difference value comprises an ion mobility drift time difference which is normalised to an averaged drift time, and wherein the method comprises:

determining the normalised ion mobility drift time difference;

recording the normalised ion mobility drift time difference; and

identifying or confirming the identity of said specific compound or analyte or determining a class of said specific compound or analyte by comparing the normalised ion mobility drift time difference to a previously measured library normalised ion mobility drift time difference.

12. A method as claimed in claim 10 , further comprising determining an average measured ion mobility drift time which is compared to a predetermined ion mobility drift time.

13. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said class of said first ions comprises lipids, peptides, enzymes, hormones, vitamins, amino acids, proteins, polypeptides, metabolites, carbohydrates, sugars, fatty acids, polysaccharides or steroids.

14. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said class of said first ions comprises the charge state of said first ions.

15. A control system of a mass spectrometer, wherein said control system is arranged and adapted:

(i) to determine a physico-chemical or other property of first ions under first conditions, said first ions being analyte ions of a specific compound or analyte;

(ii) to determine said physico-chemical or other property of said first ions under second different conditions, said first ions being analyte ions of said same specific compound or analyte;

(iii) to determine a difference value by determining a difference between said physico-chemical or other property of said first ions as determined under said first conditions and said physico-chemical or other property of said first ions as determined under said second conditions;

(iv) to record the determined difference value; and

(v) to identify or confirm the identity of said specific compound or analyte or determine a class of said specific compound or analyte by comparing the recorded difference value to a previously measured library difference value, the previously measured library difference value comprising a difference between said physico-chemical or other property of ions as determined under said first conditions and said physico-chemical or other property of ions as determined under said second conditions.

16. A method of identifying a compound or analyte or confirming the identity of the compound or analyte comprising:

determining a physico-chemical or other property of first ions, said first ions being analyte ions of a specific compound or analyte;

determining said physico-chemical or other property of second ions derived from said first ions, said second ions being analyte ions derived from said same specific compound or analyte;

determining a difference value by determining a difference between the determined physico-chemical or other property of said first ions and the determined physico-chemical or other property of said second ions derived from said first ions;

recording the determined difference value; and

identifying or confirming the identity of said specific compound or analyte or determining a class of said specific compound or analyte by comparing the recorded difference value to a previously measured library difference value.

17. A method as claimed in claim 16 , wherein said second ions comprise fragment, product or adduct ions which are formed directly or indirectly from said first ions.

18. A method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the ion mobility drift time difference which is normalised to the averaged drift time is determined by:

determining the ion mobility drift time difference between the ion mobility drift time of said first ions under said first conditions and the ion mobility drift time of said first ions under said second different conditions; and

determining the average ion mobility drift time of said first ions under said first conditions and said first ions under said second different conditions; and

normalising the ion mobility drift time difference with the average ion mobility drift time to determine the ion mobility drift time difference which is normalised to the averaged drift time.

19. A method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising ionizing said specific compound or analyte to produce the first ions, wherein:

the step of determining a physico-chemical or other property of first ions under first conditions comprises determining said physico-chemical or other property of at least some of said first ions using a first transient DC voltage wave amplitude and/or a first transient DC voltage wave effective velocity; and

the step of determining a physico-chemical or other property of first ions under second different conditions comprises determining said physico-chemical or other property of at least some of said same first ions using a second different transient DC voltage wave amplitude and/or a second different transient DC voltage wave effective velocity.