Open AccessSuper-Atmospheric Pressure Electrospray Ion Source: Applied to Aqueous Solution
Author(s) -
Lee Chuin Chen,
Mridul Kanti Mandal,
Kenzo Hiraoka
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of the american society for mass spectrometry
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.961
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1879-1123
pISSN - 1044-0305
DOI - 10.1007/s13361-011-0253-2
Subject(s) - chemistry , ion source , mass spectrometry , ion , atmospheric pressure , analytical chemistry (journal) , electrospray , aqueous solution , capillary action , chromatography , materials science , oceanography , organic chemistry , composite material , geology
This is a follow-up paper of our previous report on an ion source, which was operated at an operating pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure. Besides having more working gas for desolvation, the reduction of mean free path of electrons in a higher pressure environment increases the threshold voltage for gaseous breakdown, thus enabling a stable electrospray for the sample solution with high surface tension without the occurrence of electric discharge. In our previous work, the ion source was not coupled directly to the mass spectrometer and significant amount of ions were lost before entering the vacuum of the mass spectrometer. In this paper, we report the new design of our second prototype in which, by using a modified ion transport capillary, the pressurized ESI ion source was coupled directly to the first pumping stage of the mass spectrometer without additional modification on the vacuum pumping system. Demonstrations of the new ion source on the sensitive detection of native proteins from aqueous solution in both positive and negative ion modes are presented.