In a little more than a decade, triple quadrupole GC/MS has developed from a nascent area into a major segment of the GC/MS market. The inherent capabilities of the technique make it valuable in an increasing number of applications.

The major application areas that triple quadrupole GC/MS serves are environmental, agriculture and food. Forensics and toxicology are also significant areas of use. Single-quadrupole GC/MS has long been used to identify and quantify various contaminants in environmental, agricultural and food samples. However, there are an increasing number of compounds that present potential or proven threats to human health and the environment in ever-smaller amounts, such as endocrine-disrupting compounds. The ability of triple quadrupole GC/MS to perform MS/MS makes it much more sensitive than single quadrupole models, and therefore more capable of quantifying trace levels of such compounds.

The sensitivity and quantitative capabilities of triple quadrupole GC/MS is also useful in quantifying compounds of interest in complex samples, such as pesticides in produce. With food contamination incidents increasingly in the news, governments around the world are pushing for increased food testing.

One of the first commercial GC/MS systems on the market came from Waters in 2002. It was based on the Quattro micro series of LC/MS systems. Despite being the first entrant to the triple quadrupole GC/MS market, Waters has always been more focused on the LC/MS market and recently discontinued its triple quadrupole GC/MS. Varian entered the triple quadrupole GC/MS market in 2002 and, for a number of years, was the market leader. In conjunction with the acquisition of Varian by Agilent (see IBO 7/31/09), Varian’s quadrupole GC/MS business was sold to Bruker in 2010 (see IBO 3/15/10), but continues to have a major presence in the market. In the mid-2000s, Thermo Fisher Scientific entered the market and, like Waters, based its GC/MS models on its existing triple quadrupole LC/MS systems. Despite being late to the market, Agilent’s entrance into the market in 2008 was a shot in the arm. Agilent was the first vendor to offer a triple quadrupole GC/MS designed from the ground up and is now the market leader. Most recently, Shimadzu, the second-largest vendor of single-quadrupole GC/MS systems, also entered the triple quadrupole GC/MS market.

Demand for triple quadrupole GC/MS has taken off at a remarkable pace over the last five years, averaging more than 20% annual growth and reaching about $60 million in revenues in 2011. With the four largest vendors of GC/MS now competing in the triple quadrupole GC/MS segment and demand from a variety of industries and applications, sales should continue to grow at a solid double-digit annual pace over the next several years.

Triple Quadrupole GC/MS

at a Glance:

Leading Suppliers

• Agilent Technologies

• Bruker

• Thermo Fisher Scientific

Largest Markets

• Environmental Testing

• Agriculture and Food

• Forensics

Instrument Cost

• $140,000–$280,000