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Thermo Fisher Scientific has introduced its new Orbitrap Isora Mass Spectrometer and Orbitrap Isora Pro Mass Spectrometer, the company’s first Orbitrap instruments with a dedicated isotope ratio analysis mode.

Together with the company’s Vanquish Duo UHPLC System and new Isotope Discoverer Software, the instruments form an integrated workflow designed to make molecular-level isotope ratio analysis accessible to more laboratories and researchers worldwide.

Isotope ratio analysis helps researchers across food authenticity, as well as environmental science and other disciplines, determine a compound’s origin and the molecular processes that shaped it. These insights can help researchers confirm food and beverage authenticity, trace the source of contaminants more effectively, or understand how the body uses nutrients at the molecular level.

Thermo Fisher noted that access to these insights has largely been limited to specialised isotope laboratories until now.

While traditional isotope ratio techniques require samples to be converted to a simple gas, the Orbitrap Isora workflow measures isotope ratios directly at the molecular level. This provides a more detailed picture of a sample’s history, Thermo Fisher said. Meanwhile, the workflow simplifies an analysis that traditionally requires multiple script-based tools and complex manual data processing.

According to the company, Orbitrap Isora delivers results in ‘hours instead of days’ and makes isotope analysis more practical for a broader range of laboratories. In food and beverage manufacturing, the technology can help to distinguish synthetic ingredients from natural ones and help confirm whether a product matches its label, detecting adulteration before it becomes a recall.

The workflow includes the Orbitrap Isora MS and Orbitrap Isora Pro MS, which combine electrospray ionisation (with high-resolution accurate-mass (HRAM) detection to measure isotopologues and isotope ratios directly from intact molecular ions.

The instruments capture multiple isotopes in a single run and offer researchers different levels of analytical capability, with up to 240K maximum resolution (at m/z 200) on Orbitrap Isora MS and up to 480K maximum resolution (at m/z 200) on Orbitrap Isora Pro MS.

It also includes the Vanquish Duo UHPLC System, which automates the introduction of samples and reference materials using known standards to help ensure accurate, reliable isotope ratio measurements.

Finally, the Isotope Discoverer Software turns the resulting isotope data into usable results by extracting isotope ratios, filtering data and applying corrections.

Dieter Hofmann, VP and general manager of Applied Analytical Technologies at Thermo Fisher Scientific, said: “Isotope ratio analysis can answer questions few other techniques can address”.

“By bringing these capabilities to a familiar Orbitrap platform and simplifying what has traditionally been a highly specialised workflow, we can put powerful isotope insights in the hands of more scientists and help accelerate discoveries across human health, the environment and our planet.”