Agilent 6495 Triple Quadrupole Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometer

The Agilent 6495 mass spectrometric system is a triple quadrupole detector for liquid chromatography and is the flagship model in the 6400 series. The device is available in several versions — 6495B, 6495C and 6495D. The equipment is designed for laboratories with maximum sensitivity requirements for the quantitative analysis of peptides, proteins, and ultra-precise concentrations of pollutants in complex matrices. The system is based on the third generation iFunnel technology, which is a combination of three key innovations. The Agilent Jet Stream ionization source creates a shell of super-hot gas around the electrospray torch, which increases the efficiency of desolvation and concentrates ions near the inlet. A six-channel capillary takes up six times more ion-saturated gas compared to single-channel designs. The two-stage ion funnel effectively removes the gas stream, while focusing the ions at the entrance to the mass analyzer. The mass analyzer is made according to the standard triple quadrupole scheme with an octopole ion leash and hyperbolic quadrupoles for precise ion focusing. The curved conical impact cell reduces background noise and ensures a compact device layout. The range of detected masses has been expanded to 3,000 atomic mass units, which is especially important for analyzing large peptide fragments and evaluating posttranslational modifications of proteins, such as glycosylation. The key feature of the older versions is the VacShield technology, a vacuum gate that allows you to replace the capillary and service the ion source without resetting the vacuum and turning off the device. This solution significantly reduces downtime during routine maintenance. The 6495D model, released later, has an updated design with optimized dimensions and weight. The detector system includes a high-energy diode with a low noise level, which ensures efficient detection of ions over a wide dynamic range. The system supports dynamic multiple reaction monitoring (dMRM) and trigger MRM (tMRM) modes, which, when a target compound is detected, automatically triggers the registration of additional transitions to confirm identity using the spectral library. The MassHunter Workstation software provides a full cycle of work — from creating methods and configuring the device to collecting, processing and quantifying data. The auto-tuning function optimizes the ion optics parameters to achieve maximum sensitivity. The system is compatible with Agilent 1290 Infinity II liquid chromatographs and CE 7100 ultracapillary electrophoresis. The device is actively used in food safety control, environmental monitoring, clinical research (neonatal screening), pharmacokinetics, proteomics and forensic medical examination.