Ammonium fluoride as mobile phase additive functions beneficially in several ways in a for LCMS:
—• As a buffer (i.e. pH control)
—• Improvement of peak shapes
—• Improvement of sensitivity in MS for certain compounds
For further reading, please refer to the following third-party journal article reference:
J. Pesek, M. Matyska, “Ammonium fluoride as a mobile phase additive in aqueous normal phase chromatography,” J. Chromatogr. A. 1401, 2015, 69–74.
NOTE: care should be taken when using ammonium fluoride because it is corrosive to glass (Teflon bottles are preferred) and using a concentration in excess of 1 mM may permanently damage HPLC columns. However, it has been reported that Cogent TYPE-C™ Silica columns last much longer than ordinary columns but ammonium fluoride may somewhat decrease the column lifetime.