Graphical user interface (MATLAB) for plotting exported data (TIC and MS) from GCMS Postrun Analysis (Shimadzu)
EXPLANATION OF THE GUI

USE OF THE APPLICATION

The this tool can be used for plotting exported TIC or spectrum data from GCMS Postrun Analysis (GCMS Solution, Shimadzu)

IMPORTANT HANDLING PRIOR TO LAUNCH GUI

Make sure the .m and .fig can both be found by MATLAB. The GUI will not launch when the .fig file cannot be found. In case the file has not been found, the following error message will show up in the command window:

Error using load
Unable to read file 'TIC.fig'. No such file or
directory.
The .fig file can be found at: https://github.com/jorismeurs/TIC_MS_plot

EXPORTING DATA FROM GCMS SOLUTION

TIC data Choose 'File' in the topbar menu and then click on 'Export data'. A new screen will appear. Select 'Output File' and specify the location where the file should be saved. !!! IMPORTANT: data should be saved as .txt!!! After, tick the 'Chromatogram (TIC/MIC)' box and select 'Tab' as delimiter. Finally, click on 'Ok'.

MS data Select in the chromatogram the data point(s) from which the mass spectrum has to be obtained. Next, right click on the mass spectrum and select 'Mass table'. After, a screen will be appear with intensities at different m/z. To copy the data to clipboard, click on the right on the third button from above (Copy to Clipboard). Then, open an empty .txt file and paste the data. Finally, save the data on a desired location.

INPUT ARGUMENTS

Plotting TIC data To plot the chromatogram, select in the top menu 'Total Ion Chromatogram (TIC)'. After, the following input arguments HAVE TO BE set: desired color of the plot and in case of peak detection specify a minimum peak height. Axis labels, graph title and axis limits are optional. To find the .txt file click on browse and find your file. Click on 'Load data' to generate a plot of the chromatogram. If you want to allow peak detection click 'Yes' in the pop-up messages, else click 'No'.

Plotting MS data To plot the chromatogram, select in the top menu 'Mass spectrum'. After, the following input arguments HAVE TO BE set: desired color of the plot. Axis labels, graph title and axis limits are optional. To find the .txt file click on browse and find your file. Click on 'Load data' to generate a plot of the mass spectrum.

OUTPUT

TIC Loading the data will give a plot of the data from the .txt file. After a message will show if you want to save the plot. In case of peak detection a plot will be generated showing peaks and peak widths (FWHM). Further a table is generated in which data is shown in retention time, peak intensity and peak width (FWHM).

MS Loading the data will give a plot of the data from the .txt file. After a message will show if you want to save the plot.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For contact: j.meurs@student.vu.nl