INTRODUCTION

The foil potential of any mass spectrometer cannot be realized without a data system. Whilst computers were introduced initially into mass spectrometry to aid accurate mass measurement on double-focussing mass spectrometers, they have proved useful also for less sophisticated instruments. If the quantity of a sample to be examined is very small, the human operator may not be able to react sufficiently rapidly to obtain a representative mass spectrum during the brief period in which the compound resides in the ion source. A computer can obviate this difficulty by controlling continuous repetitive scanning of the mass spectrometer from the time that the sample is introduced into the source. The spectrum or spectra of interest can be recalled from the data stored in the computer. If a sample is contaminated with impurity it is often possible, but tedious and time-consuming, to deconvolute the impurity peaks from the sample peaks manually. A computer performs this operation in seconds. It is due to the advent of computers that the technique of combined gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) has proliferated. A data system built around a computer is now a prerequisite for high-quality GC/MS and LC/MS.

Mass spectrometers have been used in conjunction with a wide range of data systems, from microcomputers and programmable desk calculators to large, powerful computers. The larger and more complex the data system, the less likely it was to be dedicated to the mass spectrometer.