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Impact desolvation of electrosprayed microdroplets – a new ionization method for mass spectrometry of large biomolecules
Author(s) -
Aksyonov Sergei A.,
Williams Peter
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.470
Subject(s) - chemistry , mass spectrometry , ion , biomolecule , electrospray ionization , ionization , analytical chemistry (journal) , vaporization , fragmentation (computing) , electrolyte , molecule , analyte , chromatography , electrospray , organic chemistry , operating system , biochemistry , electrode , computer science
Abstract Impact desolvation of electrosprayed microdroplets (IDEM) is a new method for producing gas‐phase ions of large biomolecules. Analytes are dissolved in an electrolyte solution which is electrosprayed in vacuum, producing highly charged micron and sub‐micron sized droplets (microdroplets). These microdroplets are accelerated through potential differences ∼5 − 10 kV to velocities of several km/s and allowed to impact a target surface. The energetic impacts vaporize the droplets and release desolvated gas‐phase ions of the analyte molecules. Oligonucleotides (2‐ to 12‐mer) and peptides (bradykinin, neurotensin) yield singly and doubly charged molecular ions with no detectable fragmentation. Because the extent of multiple charging is significantly less than in atmospheric pressure electrospray ionization, and the method produces ions largely free of adducts from solutions of high ionic strength, IDEM has some promise as a method for coupling to liquid chromatographic techniques and for mixture analysis. Ions are produced in vacuum at a flat equipotential surface, potentially allowing efficient ion extraction. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.