Understanding Capillary LC - Part 6: Unlocking LC-MS Sensitivity

Mass spectrometry is often the limiting factor in detecting low-abundance analytes. But what if your LC could help you see more before the signal even reaches the MS?

In this sixth installment of the Understanding Capillary LC series, Dr. Sam Foster explores how capillary-scale flow rates fundamentally enhance LC–MS performance. By improving ionization efficiency and reducing dilution, low-flow LC enables significantly higher sensitivity, revealing compounds that may be missed under conventional analytical flow conditions.

Drawing on real-world application data and collaborative studies, including work with leading MS platforms, this session will connect theory to practice, showing how low-flow LC–MS can improve detection limits, reduce sample consumption, and expand what’s analytically possible across pharmaceutical and applied workflows.

Key Takeaways:

• Why lower flow rates improve ionization efficiency and MS response
• How capillary LC can deliver measurable gains in sensitivity
• What real application data shows about low-flow LC–MS performance
• Where increased sensitivity has the greatest impact (e.g., trace-level analysis, complex matrices)
• Practical considerations for implementing low-flow LC–MS workflows

Webinar

Speaker

Samuel Foster, Ph.D.
Application Scientist
Axcend

Samuel Foster completed his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Rowan University in 2025. His research has focused on the development and application of capillary scale liquid chromatography instrumentation. He currently works at Axcend as an application scientist focusing on the development of chromatographic workflows for a variety of analyte classes including oligonucleotides, monoclonal antibodies, and drugs of abuse.