Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC–MS) is a powerful analytical technique used for separation, identification, and quantification of both unknown and known compounds as well as to elucidate the structure and chemical properties of different molecules. It is very useful for analyzing small molecules and offers higher sensitivity and selectivity in the trace analysis of multicomponent containing substances.  LC-MS combines the physical separation capabilities of liquid chromatography (or HPLC) with the mass analysis capabilities of MS. Multiple different LC-MS platforms including, LC-MS, liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-TOF), Liquid Chromatography-quadrupole Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry (LC-QTOF), and liquid chromatography-Orbitrap mass spectrometry (LC-Orbitrap) have been used for toxicology testing. In addition, multiple different data acquisition modes have been described; including, targeted and untargeted data acquisition methods with and without data dependent acquisition of product ion spectra (DDA or DIA).
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