Applications of Mass Spectrometry to Biopolymer Analysis

Electrospray mass spectrometry has developed into a well-established method of wide scope and potential over the past 15 years. The softness of electrospray ionization has made this technique an indispensable tool for biochemical and biomedical research. Electrospray ionization has revolutionized the analysis of labile biopolymers, with applications ranging from the analysis of DNA, RNA, oligonucleotides, proteins as well as glycoproteins to carbohydrates, lipids, gly-colipids, and lipopolysaccharides, often in combination with state-of-the-art separation techniques like liquid chromatography or capillary electrophoresis [1,2]. Beyond mere analytical applications, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESMS) has proven to be a powerful tool for collision-induced dissociation (CID) and multiple-stage mass spectrometric (MSn) analysis, and - beyond the elucidation of primary structures - even for the study of noncovalent macromolecular complexes [3]. 

Historically, pyrolysis-mass spectrometry (Py-MS) was applied to the analysis of biopolymers before Py-GC [45]. However, the first application utilized an off-line setup. In time, several on-line procedures were developed and they became more common. In Py-MS the pyrolysate is directly transferred to the mass spectrometer and analyzed, generating a complex spectrum (sometimes also called a pyrogram, although this should not be confused with the chromatogram of a pyrolysate, also called pyrogram). The ionization process that takes place in the ion source of the mass spectrometer can... 

The first report on coupling capillary electrophoresis with mass spectrometry was published in 1987.- Since then, it has become obvious that this hyphenated method will become a powerful and important tool in the analysis of large biopolymers, such as proteins, polypeptides, and DNA species. In most of the applications reported to date, the capillary effluent is passed... 

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