Mass spectrometry unit resolution

USEPA. USEPA Method 1668, Toxic polychlorinated biphenyls by isotope dilution high gas chromatography or high resolution mass spectrometry. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 1997. 

A systematic investigation of the free amino acids of the Leguminosae led to the isolation of a novel ninhydrin-positive compound from the leaves of Derris elliptica Benth. (Papilionidae) (93). This substance was analyzed as C6H,3N04 (microanalysis and high resolution mass spectrometry) and was shown to be an amino alcohol. The absence of a carbonyl in the 1R, the loss of 31 mass units in the mass spectrum, and a positive periodate cleavage reaction were best embodied into a dihydroxydihydroxymethylpyrrolidine structure. The relative simplicity of the NMR spectra (three peaks in the 13C spectrum four spin-system in the H spectrum) pointed out a symmetrical structure. Inasmuch as the material was optically active ([a]D 56.4, c = 7, H20), meso structures were ruled out, and the 2R, 3R, 4R, 5R relative configuration was retained (93). This structure (53) was further confirmed by an X-ray determination (94). 

Resolution (or resolving power) plays an important role in mass spectrometry for applications requiring the characterization of very similar chemical species. The ability to detect and accurately measure the m/z ratio of a particular ion depends directly on the resolving power of the mass analyzer. For example, if a sample contains two isobaric compounds (i.e., having the same nominal molecular mass but different elemental formulae) the difference in the exact masses of the molecular ions will be much less than 1 m/z unit. Any mass analyzer possessing a nominal resolving power (e.g., RP< 1000) will register only one peak in the mass spectrum of such a binary mixture. Attempts to measure the... 

As mentioned above, gas-phase coordination of unsaturated C—C bonds to metal cations constitutes another means for double-bond localization. Peake and Gross260 determined the fragmentation of Fe+/olefin complexes by CID spectrometry and reported highly characteristic differences for several constitutional octadiene isomers. High-resolution mass spectrometry proved to be necessary in certain cases due to the isobaric masses of Fe and even two units of C2H4 and/or CO261. Although not based on gas-phase ion/molecule... 

Figure 5. Electron impact mass spectrum of tetraethyleneglycol-di(2-ethylhex-anoate), compound 82. The elemental compositions of m/e 127 and 171 were established by high resolution mass spectrometry the A values indicate the error (in millimass units) between measured and calculated exact masses.

In general, the quadrupole instruments do not achieve the mass range and the high resolution of sector instruments. However, the mass range and resolution are adequate for unit-resolution mass spectrometry, and the rapid scan and sensitivity make them especially suitable for use with capillary gas chromatography (Fig. 2.46). 

A unique molecular formula (or fragment formula) can often be derived from a sufficiently accurate mass measurement alone (high-resolution mass spectrometry). This is possible because the nuclide masses are not integers (see Table 2.2). For example, we can distinguish at a unit mass of 28 among CO, N2, CH2N, and C2H4. 

Gu, M., Wang, Y., Zhao, X. G., and Gu, Z. M. (2006). Accurate mass filtering of ion chromatograms for metabolite identification using a unit mass resolution liquid chromatography/ mass spectrometry system. Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom. 20 764-770. 

Laser desorption Fourier transform mass spectrometry (LD-FTMS) results from a series of peptides and polymers are presented. Successful production of molecular ions of peptides with masses up to 2000 amu is demonstrated. The amount of structurally useful fragmentation diminishes rapidly with increasing mass. Preliminary results of laser photodissociation experiments in an attempt to increase the available structural information are also presented. The synthetic biopolymer poly(phenylalanine) is used as a model for higher molecular weight peptides and produces ions approaching m/z 4000. Current instrument resolution limits are demonstrated utilizing a polyethylene-glycol) polymer, with unit mass resolution obtainable to almost 4000 amu. 

They are still the workhorses of coupled mass spectrometric applications, as they are relatively simple to run and service, relatively inexpensive (for a mass spectrometer), and provide unit mass resolution and scanning speeds up to approximately 10,000 amu/s. This even allows for simultaneous scan/ selected ion monitoring (SIM) operation, in which one part of the data acquisition time is used to scan an entire spectrum, whereas the other part is used to record the intensities of selected ions, thus providing both qualitative information and sensitive quantitation. They are thus suitable for many GC-MS and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) applications. In contrast to GC-MS with electron impact (El) ionization, however, LC-MS provides only limited structural information as a consequence of the soft ionization techniques commonly used with LC-MS instruments [electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI)]. Because of this limitation, other types of mass spectrometers are increasingly gaining in importance for LC-MS. 

Ferrario J, Byme C, McDaniel D, et al. 1996. Determination of 2,3,7,8,-chlorine substituted dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans at the part per trillion level in United States beef fat using high resolution gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry. Anal Chem 68 647-652. 

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