Two-Dimensional Gas-Phase Separations Coupled to Mass Spectrometry for Analysis of Complex Mixtures

Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Analytical Chemistry, 77(19):6381-6388

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/ac050871x· OSTI ID:15020618

Tang, Keqi; Li, Fumin; Shvartsburg, Alexandre A.; Strittmatter, Eric F.; Smith, Richard D.

Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) has been explored for decades, and its versatility in separation and identification of gas-phase ions, including in isomeric mixtures, is well established. Recently, field asymmetric waveform IMS (FAIMS) has been gaining acceptance in similar applications. Coupled to mass spectrometry (MS), both IMS and FAIMS have shown the potential for broad utility in proteomics and other biological analyses. A major attraction of these separations is extremely high speed, exceeding that of condensed-phase alternatives by orders of magnitude. However, modest separation peak capacities have limited the utility of FAIMS and IMS for analyses of complex mixtures. We report 2-D gas-phase separations that join FAIMS to IMS, in conjunction with high-resolution and accuracy time-of-flight MS. Evaluation of FAIMS/IMS/TOF performance using a protein mixture tryptic digest reveals high orthogonality between FAIMS and IMS dimensions, and hence the benefit of FAIMS filtering prior to IMS/MS. The effective overall peak capacities are ~500 for FAIMS/IMS separations, and ~106 for 3-D FAIMS/IMS/MS analyses of tryptic peptides. Implementation of FAIMS/IMS and IMS/MS interfaces using electrodynamic ion funnels greatly improves sensitivity, making FAIMS/IMS/MS a potential platform for ultrahigh-throughput analyses of complex mixtures.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 15020618
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-43809
• Journal Information: Analytical Chemistry, 77(19):6381-6388, Journal Name: Analytical Chemistry, 77(19):6381-6388 Journal Issue: 19 Vol. 77
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English