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Desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry of DNA nucleobases: implications for a liquid film model
Author(s) -
Qiu Bo,
Luo Hai
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9888
pISSN - 1076-5174
DOI - 10.1002/jms.1554
Subject(s) - chemistry , nucleobase , mass spectrometry , thymine , analytical chemistry (journal) , electrospray , ion trap , extractive electrospray ionization , electrospray ionization , sample preparation in mass spectrometry , desorption electrospray ionization , chromatography , direct electron ionization liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry interface , ionization , ion , chemical ionization , dna , organic chemistry , biochemistry
Desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) mass spectrometry has been implemented on a commercial ion‐trap mass spectrometer and used to optimize mass spectrometric conditions for DNA nucleobases: adenine, cytosine, thymine, and guanine. Experimental parameters including spray voltage, distance between mass spectrometer inlet and the sampled spot, and nebulizing gas inlet pressure were optimized. Cluster ions including some magic number clusters of nucleobases were observed for the first time using DESI mass spectrometry. The formation of the cluster species was found to vary with the nucleobases, acidification of the spray solvent, and the deposited sample amount. All the experimental results can be explained well using a liquid film model based on the two‐step droplet pick‐up mechanism. It is further suggested that solubility of the analytes in the spray solvent is an important factor to consider for their studies by using DESI. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.