Premium
Multiple Soft Ionization of Gas‐Phase Proteins and Swift Backbone Dissociation in Collisions with ≤99 eV Electrons
Author(s) -
Zubarev Roman A.,
Yang Hongqian
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.200905977
Subject(s) - ionization , chemistry , mass spectrometry , electrospray ionization , electron ionization , biomolecule , molecule , fragmentation (computing) , chemical ionization , ion , atomic physics , organic chemistry , physics , chromatography , biochemistry , computer science , operating system
Contrary to the dominant paradigm , electrons with an energy above 20 eV can ionize polypeptides multiple times (see picture) without destroying their primary or even elements of their tertiary structure. Concomitant electronic excitation can cause rapid backbone‐bond cleavage, with weak molecule–molecule bonding remaining intact. This “soft‐fragmentation” technique should enable the detailed structural characterization of protein complexes.