Since 50-th of the XX century mass spectrometry is one of the most important analytical methods used for qualitative as well as quantitative analyses of organic compounds. Its most intensive development started, however, in the 80-th. The milestones in the development of the mass spectrometric methods were the discoveries of so-called mild ionization techniques like Fast Atom Bombardment (FAB), Electrospray Ionization (ESI) and Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization (MALDI). These methods made possible the analyses of compounds which are the main subject of interest in biochemistry and biomedical sciences: peptides and proteins, nucleic acids, sugars, β-lactam antibiotics and many others groups of compounds which previously were out of reach of the mass spectrometry analysis.

Mass spectrometry is also one of the most widely used methods in analysis of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and raw materials used in their manufacturing. In the present lecture the following topics concerning this subject will be presented:

1. Instrumentation of modern mass spectrometry:
   a) the most widely used ionization and ion analysis methods, their features and applications;
   b) hyphenated techniques: GC-MS and HPLC-MS.
2. Applications of mass spectrometry in the quantitative analyses: mass spectrometer as the selective detector with wide dynamic range.
3. Applications of mass spectrometry for detection of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites in body fluids.
4. Applications of mass spectrometry for detection and identification of impurities in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and raw materials used in their manufacturing.

The abovementioned topics will be illustrated by the numerous examples from the authors laboratory as well as from the literature.

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