Chemistry AS mass spectrometers- uses

Just  a research homework that i did that i thought may come in handy for you guys - how it helps :)

Mass spectrometers – What are they used for ?

Detecting anabolic steroids

These steroids build up muscle mass and are not allowed in sports here is how we detect them. As urine has many larger molecules in ,the sample  is often put through a tandem mass spectrometer to break in down these large molecules first ,so that we can gain more detailed analysis from the sample. In addition to the urine, common steroids may be tested ,or past records of graphs showing the output from a mass spectrometer for a steroid, will be used to compare against the output from the urine sample. To make sure they do not falsely accuse they use a graph with another urine sample ( a control which is known to not be contaminated)pre-recorded to compare to the one of the athlete. The graph acts as a fingerprint for the urine and the steroid as one they will have the different masses come up due to the elements that they contain and in what concentrations if gas chromatography is used in the analysis too .

In the pharmaceutical industry to provide an identifier for compounds synthesised for possible identification of drugs

It enables  the researchers to know the makeup of compounds in a drug because the mass spectrometer breaks molecules down into ions and tell them the masses of metabolites. Mass spectrometers also help us to find impurities in…