Biomolecules and Mass Spectrometry

At that time the mass spectrometric ionization techniques of electron ionization (El) [1] and chemical ionization (Cl) [2] required the analyte molecules to be present in the gas phase and were thus suitable only for volatile compounds or for samples subjected to derivatization to make them volatile. Moreover, the field desorption (FD) ionization method [3], which allows the ionization of non-volatile molecules with masses up to 5000 Da, was a delicate technique that required an experienced operator [4], This limited considerably the field of application of mass spectrometry of large non-volatile biological molecules that are often thermolabile. 

At the beginning of the 1990s, two new ionization methods, electrospray ionization (ESI) [9] and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) coupled to time-of-flight (TOF) analysers [10] that avoided such inconveniences, were developed and continue to revolutionize the role of mass spectrometry in biological research. These methods allow the high-precision analysis of biomolecules of very high molecular weight. 

mass spectrometry has become one of the most widely used analytical techniques in the life sciences [11,12], The mass spectrometric analysis of different classes of biomolecules is reviewed in this chapter peptides, proteins, nucleic acids, oligosaccharides and lipids. Several applications are detailed for each class. Metabolomics, which is the omics science of metabolism, will also be examined at the end of the chapter. 

Mass Spectrometry Principles and Applications, Third Edition Edmond de Hoffmann and Vincent Stroobant Copyright 2007, John Wiley Sons Ltd 

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