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The mechanisms of collisional activation of ions in mass spectrometry
Author(s) -
Mayer Paul M.,
Poon Clement
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
mass spectrometry reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.035
H-Index - 126
eISSN - 1098-2787
pISSN - 0277-7037
DOI - 10.1002/mas.20225
Subject(s) - chemistry , projectile , ion , atomic physics , excitation , collision , mass spectrometry , translational energy , collisional excitation , ionization , physics , computer security , organic chemistry , chromatography , quantum mechanics , computer science
This article is a review of the mechanisms responsible for collisional activation of ions in mass spectrometers. Part I gives a general introduction to the processes occurring when a projectile ion and neutral target collide. The theoretical background to the physical phenomena of curve‐crossing excitation (for electronic and vibrational excitation), impulsive collisions (for direct translational to vibrational energy transfer), and the formation of long‐lived collision intermediates is presented. Part II highlights the experimental and computational investigations that have been made into collisional activation for four experimental conditions: high (>100 eV) and intermediate (1–100 eV) center‐of‐mass collision energies, slow heating collisions (multiple low‐energy collisions) and collisions with surfaces. The emphasis in this section is on the derived post‐collision internal energy distributions that have been found to be typical for projectile ions undergoing collisions in these regimes. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., Mass Spec Rev 28:608–639, 2009