Direct ionization techniques

More direct observations of the kinetic energy dependence of cross-sections should be possible using external ionization techniques where the reactant ion can be chosen by initial mass analysis and, in principle, its energy more readily controlled. Several studies using external ionization techniques, both with (2, 10, 45) and without (20, 21, 27, 41) preliminary mass selection of the reactant ion, have been reported. However, apparently with these techniques it is not possible to obtain well-defined primary ion beams at energies below 0.5-1 e.v. a region of critical importance both experimentally and theoretically. 

This is a task for which electrospray ionization is well suited although, as discussed earlier in Section 4.7, this is a soft ionization technique that yields almost exclusively molecular ions with little fragmentation and consequently, in the case of biopolymers, little sequence information directly. 

Fig. 1. Detection schemes for H-atoms. Rydberg tagging technique is slightly different from the (1 + l )-REMPI detection scheme in which the H atom is directly ionized Rydberg tagging only pumps the H atom to a high Rydberg state.

The simplest way is the introduction of a sample directly in the ion source through a direct inlet whose design depends upon the ionization technique used. As an example,... 

Through a direct inlet or a separation technique the sample is introduced into the ion source (the region in which the ionization occurs, i.e. the mass spectrometer region where a neutral molecule is transformed into an ion). The design of the ion source is dependent on the ionization technique. 

A new family of ionization techniques allows ions to be created under ambient conditions and then collected and analyzed by MS. They can be divided into two major classes desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) and direct analysis in real time (DART). 

Traldi, P. Direct Electron Impact - a New Ionization Technique Org. Mass Spectrom. 1982,17,245-246. 

Direct analysis of sulfated steroids by MS has become common, especially since the advent of soft ionization techniques (Bowers and Sanaullah, 1996 Murry et al., 1996). The gentle process of proton... 

Although there was an initial success of El in coupling LC and mass spectrometry, it was rapidly outpaced by atmospheric-pressure ionization techniques (API), and the assumption that El is only suited for GC-amenable compounds drove all of the research efforts into the direction of developing soft ionization-based interfaces. Nowadays, the situation is changing and interest is arising among researchers for the unique advantages of EL... 

Great care has to be taken in the analytical characterization of synthetic cyclic peptides.[73] The major side reactions during cyclization are epimerization of the C-terminal amino acid residue and cyclodimerization. Cyclodimers can be detected by mass spectrometry, although the analysis is not trivial, because artifacts do occur in some ionization techniques such as ES-MS as a result of aggregation.1 1 Ll 121 Real dimers can be detected as double-charged particles with mlz values identical to the cyclic monomers, but with a mass difference of 0.5 amu in the resolved isotope signals. The mass difference of the corresponding monomer is 1 amu. The cyclodimerization has received some attention as a direct method for the synthesis of C2-symmetrical cyclic peptides.[62 67 94113 115]... 

The purpose of the MS techniques is to detect charged molecular ions and fragments separated according to their molecular masses. Most flavonoid glycosides are polar, nonvolatile, and often thermally labile. Conventional MS ionization methods like electron impact (El) and chemical ionization (Cl) have not been suitable for MS analyses of these compounds because they require the flavonoid to be in the gas phase for ionization. To increase volatility, derivatization of the flavonoids may be performed. However, derivatization often leads to difficulties with respect to interpretation of the fragmentation patterns. Analysis of flavonoid glycosides without derivatization became possible with the introduction of desorption ionization techniques. Field desorption, which was the first technique employed for the direct analysis of polar flavonoid glycosides, has provided molecular mass data and little structural information. The technique has, however, been described as notorious for the transient... 

Mass spectrometry methods based on soft ionization techniques, 59,61,88,89 matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization/time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF), have been successfully applied for the direct analysis of grape and wine extracts and for monitoring flavonoid reactions in model solution studies. They give access to the molecular weights of the different species present in a fraction or extract and, through fragmentation patterns, provide important information on their constitutive units. Description of the various MS techniques can be found in Chapters 1 and 2. 

The sample is usually dissolved in a mixture of water and organic solvent, commonly methanol, isopropanol, or acetonitrile. It can be directly infused, or injected into a continuous flow of this mixture, or be contained in the effluent of an HPLC column or CE capillary. First introduced in late 1980s, MALDI is a soft ionization technique that allows the analysis of intact molecules of high masses. It allows determination of the molecular mass of macromolecules such as peptides and proteins more than 300 kDa in size. 

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