Applications of Ambient Ionization Methods for Mass Spectrometry

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical and Molecular Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 August 2022) | Viewed by 2770

Special Issue Editor

Institute of Analytical Chemistry, University of Leipzig, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
Interests: multi-selective analysis of small molecules using separation methods coupled to mass spectrometric detection
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The immediate analysis of complex samples from our environment has been attracting tremendous attention for several years, as it is able to instantaneously provide valuable information for necessary decisions. A particularly exciting field of research in this respect is modern on-site analysis, which can provide information in a very short period of time, since sample transfer to the analytical laboratory is no longer necessary. The potential applications of mobile analytics are manifold; the current fields of application are: chemical process control, in situ diagnostics in medicine, disaster control and safety screening for banned substances, environmental assessment of pollutants in soil, water and air, and ensuring the safety of food and consumer products.

Therefore, intensive work is being done to enable powerful analytical methods for mobile analysis. Mass spectrometry (MS), as one of the most powerful methods for the structure elucidation of substances, is the analytical technique of choice for unambiguous identification, and its selectivity can be well used to characterize sample mixtures of different origins. However, the transportability of these systems has always been a limiting factor when it comes to field analysis. Here, the miniaturization of mass analyzers and the development of mobile mass spectrometers have also led to major advances, not least because of the high information content of such analyzers.

With this issue, we would like to invite manuscripts demonstrating first promising applications of mobile mass spectrometry.

Dr. Claudia Birkemeyer
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • mass spectrometry
  • field analysis
  • miniaturization
  • on-site analysis

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 2714 KiB  
Article
Pulsed Nanoelectrospray Ionization Boosts Ion Signal in Whole Protein Mass Spectrometry
by Qinwen Liu, Ezaz Ahmed, K. M. Mohibul Kabir, Xiaojing Huang, Dan Xiao, John Fletcher and William A. Donald
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(22), 10883; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app112210883 - 18 Nov 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2222
Abstract
Electrospray ionisation (ESI) is renowned for its ability to ionise intact proteins for sensitive detection by mass spectrometry (MS). However, the use of a conventional direct current ESI voltage can result in the formation of relatively large initial droplet sizes, which can limit [...] Read more.
Electrospray ionisation (ESI) is renowned for its ability to ionise intact proteins for sensitive detection by mass spectrometry (MS). However, the use of a conventional direct current ESI voltage can result in the formation of relatively large initial droplet sizes, which can limit efficient ion desolvation and sensitivity. Here, pulsed nanoESI (nESI) MS using nanoscale emitters with inner diameters of ~250 nm is reported. In this approach, the nESI voltage is rapidly pulsed from 0 to ~1.5 kV with sub-nanosecond rise times, duty cycles from 10 to 90%, and repetition rates of 10 to 350 kHz. Using pulsed nESI, the performance of MS for the detection of intact proteins can be improved in terms of increased ion abundances and decreased noise. The absolute ion abundances and signal-to-noise levels of protonated ubiquitin, cytochrome C, myoglobin, and carbonic anhydrase II formed from standard denaturing solutions can be increased by up to 82% and 154% using an optimal repetition rate of ~200 kHz compared to conventional nESI-MS. Applying pulsed nESI-MS to a mixture of four proteins resulted in the signal for each protein increasing by up to 184% compared to the more conventional nESI-MS. For smaller ions (≤1032 m/z), the signal can also be increased by the use of high repetition rates (200–250 kHz), which is consistent with the enhanced performance depending more on general factors associated with the ESI process (e.g., smaller initial droplet sizes and reduced Coulombic repulsion in the spray plume) rather than analyte-specific effects (e.g., electrophoretic mobility). The enhanced sensitivity of pulsed nESI is anticipated to be beneficial for many different types of tandem mass spectrometry measurements. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Ambient Ionization Methods for Mass Spectrometry)
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