Mass spectrometry general applications

Other techniques previously described for general investigation of tautomeric equilibria (76AHC(S1)1> involve heats of combustion, relaxation times, polarography, refractive index, molar refractivity, optical rotation, X-ray diffraction, electron diffraction, neutron diffraction, Raman, fluorescence, phosphorescence and photoelectron spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. The application of several of these techniques to tautomeric studies has been discussed in previous sections. Other results from the more important of these will be referred to later in this section. 

Mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy are techniques of structure determination applicable to all organic molecules. In addition to these three generally useful methods, there s a fourth—ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy—that is applicable only to conjugated systems. UV is less commonly used than the other three spectroscopic techniques because of the specialized information it gives, so we ll mention it only briefly. 

One of the chief reasons for the recent extensive work in this field has been the recognition that ion-molecule reactions are highly relevant to radiation chemistry. The possibility that certain simple reactions, such as the formation of H3+, participate in the mechanism of product formation was appreciated much earlier 14), but wider applicability of this concept required that the generality of such reactions be demonstrated by an independent, unequivocal method. Mass spectrometry has been the predominant means of investigating ion-molecule reactions. The direct identification of reactant and product ions is appealing, at least in part, because of the conceptual simplicity of this approach. However, the neutral products of ion-molecule reactions cannot be determined directly and must be inferred. Gross chemical measurements can serve as an auxiliary technique since they allow identification of un-... 

Although FD was one of the earliest forms of soft ionisation, poor sensitivity and limited applicability have restricted the impact of the approach in the mainstream of mass spectrometry. More recently, many of the application areas of FD and FI have been appropriated by FAB-MS, which is generally considered to be a technique that requires less expertise alternatively, laser desorption is frequently being applied. FD-MS is only used in a handful of laboratories worldwide. The technique has recently been reviewed [107], and is subject of various monographs [108,112],... 

Applications Real applications of spark-source MS started on an empirical basis before fundamental insights were available. SSMS is now considered obsolete in many areas, but various unique applications for a variety of biological substances and metals are reported. Usually, each application requires specific sample preparation, sparking procedure and ion detection. SSMS is now used only in a few laboratories worldwide. Spark-source mass spectrometry is still attractive for certain applications (e.g. in the microelectronics industry). This is especially so when a multi-element survey analysis is required, for which the accuracy of the technique is sufficient (generally 15-30% with calibration or within an order of magnitude without). SSMS is considered to be a... 

An electrospray is generally produced by the application of an electric field to a small flow of liquid from a capillary tube toward a counter electrode. The principles of electrospray as applicable to mass spectrometry and the mechanisms involved have been a subject of intense debate over the last decade and have been addressed even before that. This is evident from the discussions in the 2000 issue of the Journal of Mass Spectrometry (e.g., Mora11), the book by Cole,12 and several reviews.8,10 13 14 Here we present a summary encapsulating the relevant observations and direct the readers to the above articles for a more elaborate account. 

It should be emphasized that the nature of all presented protocols is very general and, thus, their application for a comprehensive characterization of your favorite multiprotein complex (YFMPC) in yeast might require only minor modifications. The logical sequence of all required steps is schematically shown in Fig. 2.1. The initial large-scale Ni affinity isolation of eIF3 followed by mass spectrometry (MS) of its subunit composition has already been described (Asano et al, 2002), and methods for identification of protein-protein interactions such as yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) and in vitro glutathione-S-transferase (GST) pull-down analysis are presented in volume 429. This chapter focuses on a description of the small-scale one-step in vivo affinity purification techniques that were used to determine the effects of deletions and... 

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry is now such an important technique in archaeology, as elsewhere, that we devote a whole chapter to it. There are now a number of different ICP MS modes of operation (solution analysis, laser ablation, multicollector, high resolution) this chapter provides a general overview. Further description of the instrumentation for ICP MS may be found in Harris (1997) and Montaser (1998). Some general applications of solution ICP MS are discussed by Date and Gray (1989), Platzner (1997), and Kennett et al. (2001). 

Numerous applications have been shown to exist that overcome the general problems of lack of volatility and instability at higher temperatures that principally hamper direct analysis of surfactants by GC methods. Thus, a whole suite of derivatisation techniques are available for the gas chromatographist to successfully determine anionic, non-ionic and cationic surfactants in the environment. This enables the analyst to combine the high-resolution chromatography that capillary GC offers with sophisticated detection methods such as mass spectrometry. In particular, for the further elucidation of the complex mixtures, which is typical for the composition of many of the commercial surfactant formulations, the high resolving power of GC will be necessary. 

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