Mass Spectrometry Standards and Calibrants Support—Getting Started

Please refer to the table on page 3 of the Pierce Controls and Standards for Mass Spectrometry brochure for the best recommendation depending upon your application.

Thermo Fisher Scientific calibration solutions are designed specifically for Thermo Fisher Scientific mass spectrometry instruments. For a non-Thermo Fisher Scientific mass spectrometry instrument, we would recommend checking with your instrument vendor for recommended calibration solutions for mass calibration.

For maximal shelf life, mass spectrometry calibration solutions should be stored at the storage temperature recommended on the mass spectrometry calibration solution datasheet or label. We do not recommend calibrating mass spectrometry instruments using expired calibration solutions. Calibration solutions must be kept in the original container to maintain solution stability and purity.

The Pierce FlexMix Calibration Solution is a mixture of 16 highly pure, ionizable components (mass ranges: 50 to 3,000 m/z) designed for both positive and negative ionization calibration using Orbitrap Tribrid Series 3.1 Instrument Control Software (or later) for Orbitrap Fusion, Orbitrap Fusion Lumos, Orbitrap ID-X, Orbitrap IQ-X, Orbitrap Eclipse, and Orbitrap Ascend MS instruments.

We recommend using the Pierce FlexMix Calibration Solution with Orbitrap Fusion, Orbitrap Fusion Lumos, Orbitrap ID-X, Orbitrap IQ-X, Orbitrap Eclipse, and Orbitrap Ascend Tribrid MS instruments.

Here are our recommendations:

• Pierce Peptide Retention Time Calibration Mixture (Cat. No. 88321) for LC system and gradient optimization
• Pierce BSA Protein Digest, MS grade (Cat. No. 88341), Pierce 6 Protein Digest, equimolar, LC-MS grade (Cat. No. 88342), and Pierce HeLa Protein Digest Standard (Cat. No. 88328) for “bottom up” LC-MS method optimization and LC-MS suitability assessment
• Pierce LC-MS/MS System Suitability Standard (7 x 5 Mix) (Cat. No. A40010) for assessing the gradient, sensitivity, and dynamic range of the LC-MS system for discovery and targeted peptide quantitative workflows
• Pierce TMT11plex Yeast Digest Standard (Cat. No. A40938) for assessing system performance for TMT-based quantitative workflows
• Pierce Intact Protein Standard Mix (Cat. No. A33526, A33527) for “top down” LC-MS method optimization and LC-MS suitability assessment

• We recommend using our Pierce TMT11plex Yeast Digest Standard (Cat. No. A40938) for LC-MS method optimization and for assessing system suitability for TMT-labeled samples.

The Pierce TMT11plex Yeast Digest Standard (i.e., TKO standard) is a lyophilized yeast peptide mixture of four congenic strains labeled with TMT11plex reagents. It can be used to rapidly and accurately assess ion interference (co-isolation of multiple analytes of similar mass-to-charge) for TMT-based quantitative mass spectrometry proteomic analysis.

We highly recommended using Thermo Fisher Scientific calibration solutions to prevent unintended downtime or inaccurate data results.

We recommend using the moderately complex Pierce 6 Protein Digest, equimolar, LC-MS grade (Cat. No. 88342).

Yes, the Pierce Peptide Retention Time Calibration Mixture (Cat. No. 88321) can be used. It provides synthetic heavy peptides to diagnose and troubleshoot your LC (liquid chromatography) system and gradient.