Ion formation in ion mobility-mass spectrometry
Abstract
The combination of ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) with separation techniques such as liquid chromatography (LC) is now emerging as a powerful platform for addressing the identity confirmation of unknown organic compounds within complex samples. Electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) are two widespread ion sources for IM-MS, in which the mechanism of ionization is based on protonation/deprotonation of the analyte or cation/anion attachment. Studying these phenomena theoretically alongside experimental confirmation on a commercially available instrument is recognized as a key aspect of addressing the broad analysis of unknown compounds via untargeted workflows, where several 1000 molecular features are typically resolved within a single LC-IM-MS analysis. In an IM-MS platform equipped with APCI or ESI ion sources, the formation of the product ions and consequently the sensitivity of IM-MS to a given analyte, M, depends on the nature of M, the source conditions applied, and solvents during ionization processes. As such, establishing an improved knowledge about the ion/molecule reactions occurring in the ionization region of an IM-MS, potential conformations of ionic species, the nature of the ion/molecule interactions, and the parameters influencing these interactions enables analytical chemists to modify the existing analytical techniques to improve their detection limits and sensitivities, provide better characterization of unknown molecules, and/or to avoid some interferences that reduce the analytical performance.
Ion mobility-mass spectrometry APCI ESI Analytical chemistry Theoretical chemistry
Publikationen
Project staff
Tim Causon
Assoc. Prof. PD Tim Causon B.Sc. Ph.D.
tim.causon@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-77101, 77187
Project Leader
01.11.2020 - 14.02.2021
Sub Projectleader
15.02.2021 - 31.10.2022
Younes Valadbeigi
Dr. Younes Valadbeigi
y.valadbeigi@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-99391
Project Leader
15.02.2021 - 31.10.2022