skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Tandem mass spectrometry of highly charged cytochrome c molecular ions produced by electrospray ionization

Journal Article · · Journal of Physical Chemistry; (USA)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/j100350a004· OSTI ID:7071255
; ;  [1]
  1. Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)

The dissociation of multiply charged molecular ions of cytochrome c (MW 12,360 daltons) formed by electrospray ionization (ESI) has been studied by use of tandem (triple quadrupole) mass spectrometry. For the selected experimental conditions both metastable and collision-induced-dissociation (CID) processes are observed for the 14+ to 19+ protonated molecular ions, while lower charge state spectra (9+ to 12+) are dominated by charge-transfer and charge-stripping processes. For higher charge states two classes of dissociation processes are evident. The first involves dissociation (both metastable and CID) from higher internal energy (and apparently thermalized) molecular ions and yields distinctive fragments in the m/z region about the molecular ion. The second occurs for higher collision energies and yields a very large number of low intensity products across a wide m/z range. The collisional excitation gained in the ESI/vacuum interface and the slow dissociation rates anticipated for large molecular ions appear important to these observations.

DOE Contract Number:
AC06-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
7071255
Journal Information:
Journal of Physical Chemistry; (USA), Vol. 93:13; ISSN 0022-3654
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English