Extracts from poplar leaves were analyzed using six SIM channels (0.2 s dwell time) for selective detection of nine carbohydrates (pinitol, sorbitol, mannitol, trehalose, glucose, fructose, sucrose, raffinose and stachyose) and 1 scan channel (100–1000 uma, 0.5 s scan time) to investigate unknown compounds. In these conditions, the detection limitwas about 5 pmol, which is quite higher than the 1 pmol detection limit obtained with PAD. Nevertheless, the sensitivity of a specific channel can be increased by the attribution of a longer dwell time. In this case, the dwell times of the other channels have to be reduced to maintain the total MS cycle time below a value of 1.5 s, which ensures a correct resolution of chromatographic peaks.