A system for triggering a group of multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) transitions from a series of contiguous groups when at least one sentinel transition of the group is detected as part of a previous group, comprising: a separation device that separates one or more compounds from a sample; an ion source that ionizes the separated one or more compounds received from the separation device, producing an ion beam of one or more precursor ions; a tandem mass spectrometer that receives the ion beam from the ion source and for each cycle of a plurality of cycles executes on the ion beam a series of MRM precursor ion to product ion transitions read from a list, wherein for each transition of the series, the tandem mass spectrometer selects and fragments a precursor ion of the each transition and mass analyzes a small mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) range around the m/z of a product ion of the each transition to determine if the product ion of the each transition is detected; and a processor in communication with the tandem mass spectrometer that receives a plurality of MRM transitions to be used to monitor the sample, characterized in that the processor furthermore divides the plurality of MRM transitions into two or more contiguous groups of MRM transitions so that different groups can be monitored separately during the plurality of cycles, selects at least one sentinel transition in each group of the two or more contiguous groups that identifies a next group of the two or more contiguous groups that is to be monitored, places a first group of the two or more contiguous groups on the list of the tandem mass spectrometer, and when at least one sentinel transition of the first group is detected by the tandem mass spectrometer, places a next group of the two or more contiguous groups identified by the sentinel transition on the list. a separation device that separates one or more compounds from a sample; an ion source that ionizes the separated one or more compounds received from the separation device, producing an ion beam of one or more precursor ions; a tandem mass spectrometer that receives the ion beam from the ion source and for each cycle of a plurality of cycles executes on the ion beam a series of MRM precursor ion to product ion transitions read from a list, wherein for each transition of the series, the tandem mass spectrometer selects and fragments a precursor ion of the each transition and mass analyzes a small mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) range around the m/z of a product ion of the each transition to determine if the product ion of the each transition is detected; and a processor in communication with the tandem mass spectrometer that receives a plurality of MRM transitions to be used to monitor the sample, characterized in that the processor furthermore divides the plurality of MRM transitions into two or more contiguous groups of MRM transitions so that different groups can be monitored separately during the plurality of cycles, selects at least one sentinel transition in each group of the two or more contiguous groups that identifies a next group of the two or more contiguous groups that is to be monitored, places a first group of the two or more contiguous groups on the list of the tandem mass spectrometer, and when at least one sentinel transition of the first group is detected by the tandem mass spectrometer, places a next group of the two or more contiguous groups identified by the sentinel transition on the list. <EOS>