TOF mass spectrometers

The final total ion time of flight in the TOF mass spectrometer with a single accelerating region can be written in a smgle equation, taking all of the above factors into account. 

An AutoSpec-TOF mass spectrometer has a magnetic sector and an electron multiplier ion detector for carrying out one type of mass spectrometry plus a TOF analyzer with a microchannel plate multipoint ion collector for another type of mass spectrometry. Either analyzer can be used separately, or the two can be run in tandem (Figure 20.4). 

TOF mass spectrometers are very robust and usable with a wide variety of ion sources and inlet systems. Having only simple electrostatic and no magnetic fields, their construction, maintenance, and calibration are usually straightforward. There is no upper theoretical mass limitation all ions can be made to proceed from source to detector. In practice, there is a mass limitation in that it becomes increasingly difficult to discriminate between times of arrival at the detector as the m/z value becomes large. This effect, coupled with the spread in arrival times for any one m/z value, means that discrimination between unit masses becomes difficult at about m/z 3000. At m/z 50,000, overlap of 50 mass units is more typical i.e., mass accuracy is no better than about 50-100 mass... 

A major advantage of the TOF mass spectrometer is its fast response time and its applicability to ionization methods that produce ions in pulses. As discussed earlier, because all ions follow the same path, all ions need to leave the ion source at the same time if there is to be no overlap between m/z values at the detector. In turn, if ions are produced continuously as in a typical electron ionization source, then samples of these ions must be utihzed in pulses by switching the ion extraction field on and off very quickly (Figure 26.4). 

Hybrid time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometers make use of a TOF analyzer placed at right angles to a main ion beam. Ions are deflected from this beam by a pulsed electric fleld at right angles to the ion beam direction. The deflected ions travel down the TOF tube for analysis. Hybrid TOF mass spectrometers have many advantages arising from the combination of two techniques, neither of which alone would be as useful. 

In a time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer, ions formed in an ion source are extracted and accelerated to a high velocity by an electric field in an analyzer consisting of a long, straight drift tube. The ions pass along the tube until they reach a detector. 

In time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometers, a pulse of ions is accelerated electrically at zero time. Having attained a maximum velocity, the ions drift along the flight tube of the analyzer. The times of arrival of ions at a detector are noted. 

A versatile Laser-SNMS instrument consists of a versatile microfocus ion gun, a sputtering ion gun, a liquid metal ion gun, a pulsed flood electron gun, a resonant laser system consisting of a pulsed Nd YAG laser pumping two dye lasers, a non-resonant laser system consisting of a high-power excimer or Nd YAG laser, a computer-controlled high-resolution sample manipulator on which samples can be cooled or heated, a video and electron imaging system, a vacuum lock for sample introduction, and a TOF mass spectrometer. 

What is the configuration of a Q-ToF mass spectrometer and what are its anaiyticai strengths ... 

Both of the studies involving glycoproteins have employed Q-ToF mass spectrometers and both sets of anthors comment on the sensitivity of this type of instrument, allowing nsefnl data to be obtained from the limited amonnts of sample usually available from natural sources. 

However, because of the high price, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometers have not come into wide use. Vapor pressure osmometry (VPO), an old and traditional method for estimating molecular weight, is useful in the field of CPO chemistry. The experimental error of this measurement is approximately 10% however, the obtained data are sufficiently useful to estimate the number of porphyrins in a molecule. 

Laser microprobe MS (LMMS) can be used for direct analysis of normal-phase HPTLC plates [802,837]. Kubis et al. [802] used polyamide TLC plates polyamide does not interfere with compound identification by the mass spectrum, owing to its low-mass fragment-ions (m/z < 150). LMMS is essentially a surface analysis technique, in which the sample is ablated using a Nd-YAG laser. The UV irradiation desorbs and ionises a microvolume of the sample the positive and negative ions can be analysed by using a ToF mass spectrometer. The main characteristics of TLC-LMMS are indicated in Table 7.84 [838],... 

Spengler and Hubert (2002) describe a confocal laser scanning microscope used in conjunction with a TOF mass spectrometer, and also possessing ion imaging... 

The output of a Nd YLF laser is focussed by a series of lenses to a spot size of 0.5 pm upon a sample which may be positioned by an x-y-z stepping motor stage and scanned by a computer-controlled high frequency x-y-z piezo stage. Ions are accelerated and transmitted through the central bore of the objective into a time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer. The laser scans an area of 100 x 100 pm with a minimum step size of 0.25 pm. TOF mass spectra of each pixel are evaluated with respect to several ion signals and transformed into two-dimensional ion distribution plots. 

Figure 2.3. A. Mass spectrometer consisting of an ionization source, a mass analyzer and an ion detector. The mass analyzer shown is a time-of -flight (TOF) mass spectrometer. Mass-to-charge (m/z) ratios are determined hy measuring the amount of time it takes an ion to reach the detector. B. Tandem mass spectrometer consisting of an ion source, a first mass analyzer, a collision cell, a second mass analyzer and a detector. The first mass analyzer is used to choose a particular peptide ion to send to the collision cell where the peptide is fragmented. The mass of the spectrum of fragments is determined in the second mass analyzer and is diagnostic of the amino acid sequence of the peptide. Figure adapted from Yates III (2000).

Figure 6.2 Whole-cell MALDI-TOF spectra of two Vibrio species taken using a modern TOF mass spectrometer. Even in the linear mode V. parahaemolyticus can be easily differentiated from V. vulnificus.

Figure 2. (a) Reflection TOF mass spectrometer, (b) Depicts the electrostatic potentials. With a judicious selection of potential, the daughter ions arising from metastable decay arrive at the detector prior to the parent ions which have higher kinetic energy. MCP denotes a microchannel plate charged particle detector, (a) Taken with permission from ref. 22 (b) Taken with permission from ref. 19. 

The advent of ultrafast pump-probe laser techniques62 and their marriage with the TOF method also enables study of internal ion-molecule reactions in clus-ters.21,63-69 The apparatus used in our experiments is a reflectron TOF mass spectrometer coupled with a femtosecond laser system. An overview of the laser system is shown in Figure 4. Femtosecond laser pulses are generated by a colliding pulse mode-locked (CPM) ring dye laser. The cavity consists of a gain jet, a... 

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