Compound identification at MSI Level 1a

Authenticated compound identification against 40,000+ measured reference standards. Not just library matching — three independent gates for accurate mass, retention time, and spectral similarity.

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How It Works

Not just library matching

Every identification passes through three independent gates. Each candidate must satisfy stringent thresholds for precursor mass accuracy, chromatographic retention time, and MS/MS spectral agreement — elevating confidence from a statistical guess to MSI Level 1a, the highest confidence tier in metabolomics.

With 40,000+ physically measured standards spanning both ESI+ and ESI− ionisation modes, VeroMass offers the broadest authenticated coverage of any commercial or academic library. Every spectrum was acquired on a calibrated Q-TOF platform with matched chromatographic conditions, ensuring retention times and fragmentation patterns are directly comparable to your data.

The Three Gates

Three independent checks, one confident answer

Each gate acts as a filter. A candidate must pass all three to receive an MSI Level 1a assignment — no single metric decides the outcome.

Accurate Mass

Precursor m/z within 5 ppm. Our 40,000+ authenticated standards library covers both ESI+ and ESI− modes, with exact masses verified against certified reference materials, eliminating the vast majority of false positives before spectral matching begins.

Retention Time

RT matched against authenticated standards acquired under the same chromatographic method. Where no standard exists, the VeroMass RT predictor fills the gap with a learned, probabilistic RT prior.

Spectral Similarity

MS/MS cosine similarity ≥ 0.700 against the authenticated library spectrum. Mirror plots render matched fragments in green and unmatched in grey, so every peak can be inspected.

Three-Gate Verification

From raw feature to MSI Level 1a

Upload or Import

Three-Gate Matching

Review and Export

Upload or import

Submit raw data files (mzML, MGF, .raw) or feature tables. VeroMass handles peak picking, adduct detection, and isotope filtering automatically. Every feature is then evaluated through the accurate mass, retention time, and spectral similarity gates, with results appearing in seconds — ready to inspect as mirror plots, retention time overlays, and score breakdowns, and export with confidence levels, spectral annotations, and DOI-referenced standard metadata.

The Library

40,000+ authenticated standards, measured not predicted

The VeroMass authenticated reference library is one of the largest collections of its kind. Every standard was acquired under controlled, reproducible conditions — not algorithmically generated or transferred from other instruments.

Coverage and curation of the authenticated library:

30,000+ standards in ESI+ with HCD fragmentation at 10, 20, 40 eV
24,000+ standards in ESI− under identical chromatographic conditions
Primary & secondary metabolites, lipids, xenobiotics, pharmaceuticals, natural products
Mass range of 50–1500 Da
Sourced from Sigma-Aldrich, Cayman, Cerilliant — ≥95% purity verified
System suitability standards keep RTs reproducible within ±0.05 min
Open metadata: InChIKey, SMILES, exact mass, measured RT, collision energy, lot number
Library updated quarterly with new standards

Dark Matter

53% of features typically go unidentified

In a typical untargeted metabolomics experiment, more than half of all detected features cannot be assigned a chemical identity — the largest missed opportunity in metabolomics. VeroMass tackles dark matter through three complementary strategies.

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RT predictor

When no standard is available, the trained retention time model provides a probabilistic RT window that narrows candidate lists and enables confident annotation of previously uncharacterised features.

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Spectral networking

Unidentified features that share fragment ions or neutral losses with an identified compound are linked through molecular networks, propagating annotation confidence across related features.

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Continuous library growth

The authenticated library is updated quarterly with new standards, adding coverage for underrepresented chemical classes and reducing the dark fraction with every release.

Why It Matters

Confidence you can publish

MSI Level 1a is the only confidence tier accepted without qualification by most peer-reviewed journals. VeroMass delivers it systematically, transparently, and at scale — because every identification is backed by a physically measured reference standard and a complete audit trail of all three gates.

40,000+

Authenticated reference standards

Verification gates per identification

98.7%

Identification accuracy at MSI Level 1a