Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance instruments

A simple mass spectrometer of low resolution (many quadrupoles, magnetic sectors, time-of-flight) cannot easily be used for accurate mass measurement and, usually, a double-focusing magnetic/electric-sector or Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance instrument is needed. 

Milgram, K. E. Abatement of spectral interferences in elemental mass spectrometry design and construction of inductively coupled plasma ion sources for Fourier Transform ion cyclotron resonance instrumentation, Ph. D. Thesis, University of Florida, 1997, Diss. Abstr. Int., B 1998, 59(2), 639. 

Various forms of tandem mass spectroscopy (MS/MS) have also been used in the analysis of biomolecules. Such instruments consist of an ionisation source (ESI or MALDI or other) attached to a first mass analyser followed by a gas-phase collision cell. This collison cell further fragments the selected ions and feeds these ions to a second mass detector. The final mass spectrum represents a ladder of fragment ions. In the case of peptides the collision cell usually cleaves the peptides at the amide bond. The ladder of resulting peptides reveals the sequence directly [496]. Thus, tandem MS instruments, such as the triple quadrupole and ion-trap instruments have been routinely applied in LC-MS/MS or ESI-MS/MS for peptide sequencing and protein identification via database searching. New configurations, which have been moving into this area include the hybrid Q-TOF [498], the MALDI-TOF-TOF [499] and the Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance instruments [500]. 

A mass analyzer separates and mass-analyzes the ionic species. Magnetic and/or electric fields are used in mass analyzers to control the motion of ions. A magnetic sector, quadrupole, time-of-fiight, quadrupole ion trap, quadrupole linear ion trap, orbitrap, and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance instrument are the most common forms of mass analyzers currently in use (discussed in Chapter 3). 

Quadrupole-Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Instrument... 

Other types of mass spectrometer may use point, array, or both types of collector. The time-of-flight (TOF) instrument uses a special multichannel plate collector an ion trap can record ion arrivals either sequentially in time or all at once a Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) instrument can record ion arrivals in either time or frequency domains which are interconvertible (by the Fourier-transform technique). 

An added consideration is that the TOF instruments are easily and quickly calibrated. As the mass range increases again (m/z 5,000-50,000), magnetic-sector instruments (with added electric sector) and ion cyclotron resonance instruments are very effective, but their prices tend to match the increases in resolving powers. At the top end of these ranges, masses of several million have been analyzed by using Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) instruments, but such measurements tend to be isolated rather than targets that can be achieved in everyday use. 

Instruments are available that can perform MS/MS type experiments using a single analyzer. These instruments trap and manipulate ions in a trapping cell, which also serves as the mass analyzer. The ion trap and fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometers are examples. 

In mass spectrometers, ions are analysed according to the ml7. (mass-to-charge) value and not to the mass. While there are many possible combinations of technologies associated with a mass-spectrometry experiment, relatively few forms of mass analysis predominate. They include linear multipoles, such as the quadrupole mass filter, time-of-flight mass spectrometry, ion trapping forms of mass spectrometry, including the quadrupole ion trap and Fourier-transform ion-cyclotron resonance, and sector mass spectrometry. Hybrid instruments intend to combine the strengths of the component analysers. 

Currently PCR and mass spectrometry are performed by two separate instruments. However, there is no reason why PCR followed by simple automated cleanup and mass spectrometry cannot be incorporated into a single integrated instrument. Essentially every configuration of the modern ESI mass spectrometer has been used successfully for the analysis of PCR products, from the highest to the lowest resolution involving. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR), triple quadrupole, quadrupole-time of flight (Q-TOF), and ion trap.22-24 MS discriminates between two structurally related PCR products by MW difference. Mass accuracy is needed to differentiate the... 

It should be pointed out that FAB, MALDI, and ESI can be used to provide ions for peptide mass maps or for microsequencing and that any kind of ion analyzer can support searches based only on molecular masses. Fragment or sequence ions are provided by instruments that can both select precursor ions and record their fragmentation. Such mass spectrometers include ion traps, Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance, tandem quadrupole, tandem magnetic sector, several configurations of time-of-flight (TOF) analyzers, and hybrid systems such as quadrupole-TOF and ion trap-TOF analyzers. 

Multiple mass analyzers exist that can perform tandem mass spectrometry. Some use a tandem-in-space configuration, such as the triple quadrupole mass analyzers illustrated (Fig.3.9). Others use a tandem-in-time configuration and include instruments such as ion-traps (ITMS) and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICRMS or FTMS). A triple quadrupole mass spectrometer can only perform the tandem process once for an isolated precursor ion (e.g., MS/MS), but trapping or tandem-in-time instruments can perform repetitive tandem mass spectrometry (MS ), thus adding n 1 degrees of structural characterization and elucidation. When an ion-trap is combined with HPLC and photodiode array detection, the net result is a profiling tool that is a powerful tool for both metabolite profiling and metabolite identification. 

Mass analyzers interrogate and resolve ions produced by an ion source based on their m/z ratios. Several types of mass analyzers are utilized for proteomic analysis including time-of-flight (TOF) quadrupoles, ion traps, and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR). Mass analyzers may be assembled in hybrid configurations. MS instruments such as quadrupole TOF and quadra-pole ion trap-FTICR facilitate diversified applications and achieved great success. 

Ion detection is carried out using image current detection with subsequent Fourier transform of the time-domain signal in the same way as for the Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) analyzer (see Section 2.2.6). Because frequency can be measured very precisely, high m/z separation can be attained. Here, the axial frequency is measured, since it is independent to the first order on energy and spatial spread of the ions. Since the orbitrap, contrary to the other mass analyzers described, is a recent invention, not many variations of the instrument exist. Apart from Thermo Fischer Scientific s commercial instrument, there is the earlier setup described in References 245 to 247. 

In addition to the diversity of ionisation techniques available, mass spectrometers offer a selection of mass analyser configurations. Of note are single (MS) and triple quadrupole (MS—MS) instruments, ion trap analysers (MS)n, time-of-flight (ToF) analysers, sector field analysers, and Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) instruments. 

With few exceptions, magnetic sector instruments are comparatively large devices capable of high resolution and accurate mass determination, and suited for a wide variety of ionization methods. Double-focusing sector instruments are the choice of MS laboratories with a large chemical diversity of samples. In recent years, there is a tendency to substitute these machines by TOE or by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) instruments. 

Magnetic sector instruments (Chap. 4.3) were used first to demonstrate the beneficial effects of resolution on ESI spectra of biomolecules. [96,103,104] Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR, Chap. 4.6) instruments followed. [105-107] The more recently developed orthogonal acceleration of time-of-flight (oaTOF, Chap. 4.2 and 4.7) analyzers also present an effective means to resolve all or at least most peaks. [108-110]... 

With time of flight instruments, a mass accuracy better than 5 ppm can be achieved, while with Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance or orbitrap mass spectrometers mass accuracies better than 1 ppm have been reported. It is obvious that, for good mass accuracies, the peaks must be baseline resolved and resolution plays an essential role. For the present example, a mass resolving power of 5000 seems to be quite acceptable. In the case of the [M+H]+ + 1 isotope peak, the situation becomes somewhat more complex for molecules containing nitrogen, sulfur or carbon. Figure 1.5 D illustrates at a mass resolving power of 500000 the contribution of... 

The instruments used for the experimental work detailed in this review are several high-pressure mass spectrometers (HPMS) and a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance spectrometer (FTICR). Each of the instruments was constructed, to a considerable degree, in-house at the University of Waterloo, and each contains features unique to its type of apparatus. The instruments in general and the unique features of the Waterloo apparatus in particular are described below. 

General Methods. The instrument that will be used to execute the gas-phase experimental portion of the proposed research is a Finnigan 2001 dual-cell Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (FTMS or FTICR), equipped with both electron impact (FI) and electrospray ionization (FSl). FTMS is a high-resolution, high-sensitivity technique that allows the entrapment and detection of gas-phase species. Gas-phase ions are trapped in a magnetic field, much like a reactant sits in a flask in solution. The instrument is a mass spectrometer therefore, we will often refer to the mass-to-charge (m/z) ratio of ions, which is the method we use to identify species. (M-l) or (M-H) refers to a molecule M that has been deprotonated for example, HjO has an (M-f) ion of m/z 17 (HO ). 

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