A novel TOFMS technology based  multi-reflection-time-of-flight technology using periodic ion focusing lenses allow high mass-resolution (up to R=100.000) with good mass accuracy (~ 1 ppm) and with extremely fast acquisition rates (up to 200 Hz) without compromising the detection sensitivity. Due to the high acquisition rates the HRT TOFMS-systems are capable to follow fast and transient concentration changes with high accuracy. Thus the devices are particularly well rendered for being coupled to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or gas chromatography (GC or GCxGC). The versatility of HPLC - HRT-TOFMS system (electrospray ionization, ESI) is demonstrated by exemplary applications in the petrochemical, forensic and biological samples. In the second part of the contribution, recent results from the development of a matrix-free and soft photo ionization (PI) technique at low pressure for direct analysis for liquid samples are presented. Based on the direct-EI source (Capielleo et al.), which allows to record electron ionization (EI) mass spectra from liquid samples (HPLC effluent), a special VUV light source was added for the new PI approach. In this setup compounds which are not accessible by the classical ionization methods in LC-MS (ESI, APCI, APPI), such as alkanes, can be softly ionized and detected by MS.