The Concept of Spectral Accuracy for MS

Though MS has always appeared to be quite different from spectroscopy to analytical chemists who are familiar with both, a careful examination from historical and theoretical perspectives reveals a striking similarity between the two. With the introduction of spectral accuracy, a companion concept to the better known mass accuracy, new capabilities previously thought unfeasible can now be enabled for MS. (To listen to a podcast about this article, please go to the Analytical Chemistry multimedia page at pubs. acs.org/page/ancham/audio/index.html.)