Electron transfer versus proton transfer in gas-phase ion/ion reactions of polyprotonated peptides

The ion/ion reactions of several dozen reagent anions with triply protonated cations of the model peptide KGAILKGAILR have been examined to evaluate predictions of a Landau-Zener-based model for the likelihood for electron transfer. Evidence for electron transfer was provided by the appearance of fragment ions unique to electron transfer or electron capture dissociation. Proton transfer and electron transfer are competitive processes for any combination of anionic and cationic reactants. For reagent anions in reactions with protonated peptides, proton transfer is usually significantly more exothermic than electron transfer. If charge transfer occurs at relatively long distances, electron transfer should, therefore, be favored on kinetic grounds because the reactant and product channels cross at greater distances, provided conditions are favorable for electron transfer at the crossing point. The results are consistent with a model based on Landau-Zener theory that indicates both thermodynamic and geometric criteria apply for electron transfer involving polyatomic anions. Both the model and the data suggest that electron affinities associated with the anionic reagents greater than about 60-70 kcal/mol minimize the likelihood that electron transfer will be observed. Provided the electron affinity is not too high, the Franck-Condon factors associated with the anion and its corresponding neutral must not be too low. When one or the other of these criteria is not met, proton transfer tends to occur essentially exclusively. Experiments involving ion/ion attachment products also suggest that a significant barrier exists to the isomerization between chemical complexes that, if formed, lead to either proton transfer or electron transfer.     

Sites of protonation in phenothiazines: Methane and ammonia chemical ionization mass spectra

Positive ion methane and ammonia chemical ionization mass spectra for ten phenothiazine derivatives are reported. The fragmentations observed in the chemical ionization mass spectra are rationalized in terms of the location of the added proton. High-resolution measurements are used to confirm empirical formulae of the ions in the mass spectra. Changes in the mass spectra with a change in the chemical ionization reagent gas from methane to ammonia are described. A comparison with positive ion secondary ion mass spectra of the same compounds show that the amount of fragmentation is higher in the secondary ion mass spectra, but the same types of ions are observed in spectra produced by both ionization methods.     

Resolving interferences in negative mode ion mobility spectrometry using selective reactant ion chemistry

During the investigation of the degradation products of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) using ion mobility spectrometry (IMS), 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4-dichlorophenol (DCP) were found to have IMS responses which overlapped those of the TNT degradation products. It was observed that the Cl(-) reactant ion chemistry, often used for explosives analysis, was not always successful in resolving peak overlap of analytes and interferents. It is shown here that resolution of the analytes and interferences can sometimes be achieved using only air for the formation of reactant ions, at other times through the use of Br(-) as an alternative to Cl(-) for producing reactant ions, and also through the promotion of adduct stability by lowering the IMS temperature.     

Rapid separation of inorganic anions by capillary ion chromatography using monolithic silica columns modified with dilauryldimethylammonium ion.

The rapid separation of inorganic anions was determined by capillary ion chromatography using monolithic silica capillary columns modified with dilauryldimethylammonium bromide. The stability of the modified stationary phase was satisfactory owing to a strong hydrophobic interaction between the lauryl groups of the reagent, even if the eluent did not contain dilauryldimethylammonium ion. Bromide in seawater samples could be determined by the present system. The repeatability of a retention time of bromide for six successive measurements was around 1.8% when a 500 mM sodium chloride aqueous solution was used as the eluent. Seawater samples were directly injected onto the prepared column without any interference of matrix ions, because an aqueous solution of high-concentration sodium chloride could be used as the eluent. Bromide in seawater samples could be determined within 2 min.     

Solid state chemical ionization for characterization of organic compounds by laser mass spectrometry

A new technique involving the addition of a compound to the analyte to serve as a source of "reagent" ions has been developed for negative-ion laser mass spectrometry. This "solid state chemical ionization" leads to ions characteristic of the analyte, owing to ion-molecule reactions between the "reagent" ion and the neutral analyte in the laser-generated plume. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons show formation of an ion corresponding to (M + O - H)(-) in their negative-ion laser mass spectra when mixed with compounds such as sym-trinitrobenzene, sodium nitrate and sodium peroxide. NO(-)(2), O(-), and O(-)(2) serve as "reagent" ions in these compounds. Formation of (M + Cl)(-) is seen in the laser mass spectra of glycosides mixed with hexachlorobenzene. Chloride serves as the "reagent" ion in this case.     

Negative ion-atmospheric pressure photoionization: Electron capture,dissociative electron capture,proton transfer,and anion attachment

To better guide the development of liquid chromatography/electron capture-atmospheric pressure photoionization-mass spectrometry (LC/EC-APPI-MS) in analysis of low polarity compounds, the ionization mechanism of 19 compounds was studied using dopant assisted negative ion-APPI. Four ionization mechanisms, i.e., EC, dissociative EC, proton transfer, and anion attachment, were identified as being responsible for the ionization of the studied compounds. The mechanisms were found to sometimes compete with each other, resulting in multiple ionization products from the same molecule. However, dissociative EC and proton transfer could also combine to generate the same [M - H](-) ions. Experimental evidence suggests that O(2)(-*), which was directly observed in the APPI source, plays a key role in the formation of [M - H](-) ions by way of proton transfer. Introduction of anions more basic than O(2)(-*), i.e., C(6)H(5)CH(2)(-), into the APPI source, via addition of di-tert-butyl peroxide in the solvent and/or dopant, i.e., toluene, enhanced the deprotonation ability of negative ion-APPI. Although the use of halogenated solvents could hinder efficient EC, dissociative EC, and proton transfer of negative ion-APPI due to their EC ability, the subsequently generated halide anions promoted halide attachment to compounds that otherwise could not be efficiently ionized. With the four available ionization mechanisms, it becomes obvious that negative ion-APPI is capable of ionizing a wider range of compounds than negative ion chemical ionization (NICI), negative ion-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (negative ion-APCI) or negative ion-electrospray ionization (negative ion-ESI).     

Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization of fluorinated phenols in atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry, tandem mass spectrometry, and ion mobility spectrometry

Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI)-mass spectrometry (MS) for fluorinated phenols (C6H5-xFxOH Where x = 0-5) in nitrogen with Cl- as the reagent ion yielded product ions of M Cl- through ion associations or (M-H)- through proton abstractions. Proton abstraction was controllable by potentials on the orifice and first lens, suggesting that some proton abstraction occurs through collision induced dissociation (CID) in the interface region. This was proven using CID of adduct ions (M Cl-) with Q2 studies where adduct ions were dissociated to Cl- or proton abstracted to (M-H)-. The extent of proton abstraction depended upon ion energy and structure in order of calculated acidities: pentafluorophenol > tetrafluorophenol > trifluorophenol > difluorophenol. Little or no proton abstraction occurred for fluorophenol, phenol, or benzyl alcohol analogs. Ion mobility spectrometry was used to determine if proton abstraction reactions passed through an adduct intermediate with thermalized ions and mobility spectra for all chemicals were obtained from 25 to 200 degrees C. Proton abstraction from M Cl- was not observed at any temperature for phenol, monofluorophenol, or difluorophenol. Mobility spectra for trifluorophenol revealed the kinetic transformations to (M-H)- either from M Cl- or from M2 Cl- directly. Proton abstraction was the predominant reaction for tetra- and penta-fluorophenols. Consequently, the evidence suggests that proton abstraction occurs from an adduct ion where the reaction barrier is reduced with increasing acidity of the O-H bond in C6H5-xFxOH.     

Dissociative electron attachment to gas phase glycine: exploring the decomposition pathways by mass separation of isobaric fragment anions

Dissociative electron attachment to gas phase glycine generates a number of fragment ions, among them ions observed at the mass numbers 15, 16 and 26 amu. From stoichiometry they can be assigned to the chemically rather different species NH(-)/CH(3)(-)(15 amu), O(-)/NH(2)(-)(16 amu) and CN(-)/C(2)H(2)(-)(26 amu). Here we use a high resolution double focusing two sector mass spectrometer to separate these isobaric ions. It is thereby possible to unravel the decomposition reactions of the different transient negative ions formed upon resonant electron attachment to neutral glycine in the energy range 0-15 eV. We find that within the isobaric ion pairs, the individual components generally arise from resonances located at substantial different energies. The corresponding unimolecular decompositions involve complex reaction sequences including multiple bond cleavages and substantial rearrangement in the precursor ion. To support the interpretation and assignments we also use (13)C labelling of glycine at the carboxylic group.     

Methylene chloride chemical ionization of fumaric and maleic acids and their esters

The chemical ionization (CI) mass spectrometry of fumaric and maleic acids and their esters with methylene chloride as reagent gas is described. The introduction of methylene chloride to the CI(CH₄) plasma led to the formation of new characteristic ions in addition to the protonation and the subsequent fragmentation, revealing diagnostic information on the configuration of geometrical isomers. The new characteristic ions have been found to arise from the addition of the reactant ion of methylene chloride, [CH₂Cl]⁺, to the substrates and, for higher dialkyl esters, from the further McLafferty rearrangement of the adduct ion [M + CH₂Cl]⁺.     

Mass spectrometry of volatile mercury salts

The integrated ion current method is applied to the determination of mug quantities of mercury(II) chloride. The mass spectra of both mercury(I) and (II) chlorides indicate that the analytical reagent grade chemicals contain traces of mercury(II) bromide and iodide.     

Simultaneous determination of bromide and iodide ions by capillary isotachophoresis using quaternary ammonium salts

Bromide and iodide ions were determined simultaneously by capillary isotachophoresis using an aqueous electrolyte system; the separation principle was based on the ion-pairing equilibria between tetradecyldimethylbenzylammonium ion and these anions in the leading electrolyte. The interaction between iodide ion and tetradecyldimethylbenzylammonium ion was stronger than that for bromide ion. Thus complete separation of bromide and iodide ions could be obtained by using a leading electrolyte containing 1.5 mM tetradecyldimethylbenzylammonium ion. The pH of the leading electrolyte was adjusted to 5.0. The relative standard deviations of the zone length for bromide and iodide ions were 1.1 and 1.2%, respectively, when mixture of 3.0 mM of these ions was analysed. A 150-μl volume could be injected for the simultaneous determination of low concentrations of bromide and iodide ions.     

Electron capture ion mobility spectrometry for the selective detection of chlorinated and brominated species after capillary gas chromatography

This paper reports the first investigation of electron capture ion mobility spectrometry as a detection method for capillary gas chromatography. In previous work with negative ion mobility detection after gas chromatography, the principal reactant ion species were O₂^? or hydrated O₂^? due to the presence of oxygen in the drift gas. These molecular reactant ions have a mobility similar to chloride and bromide ions, which are the principal product ions formed by most halogenated organics via dissociative ion-molecule reactions. Oxygenated reactant ions thus interfere with the selective detection of chloride and bromide product ions. A recently described ion mobility detector design efficiently eliminated ambient impurities, including oxygen, from infiltrating the ionization region of the detector; consequently, in the negative mode of operation, the ionization species with N₂ drift gas were thermalized electrons. Thermalized electrons have a high mobility and their drift time occupies a region of the ion mobility spectrum not occupied by chloride, bromide, or other product ions. The result was improved selectivity for halogenated organics which ionize by dissociative electron capture. This was demonstrated by the selective detection of 4,4′-dibromobiphenyl from the components of a polychlorinated biphenyl mixture (Aroclor 1248).     

Control of methanol oxidation by ionic behavior in supercritical water

In supercritical water the rate of methanol oxidation was controlled by ionic behavior as follows: the oxidation rate of methanol decreased with increasing proton and hydroxide ion concentration, possibly due to stabilization of the reactant, while that of CO was suppressed by added protons and enhanced by added hydroxide ions.     

Outer-Sphere Electron Transfer in Methylene Chloride: Concentration, Salt, and Temperature Dependences of the Oxidation of beta-Re(2)X(4)(cis-1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethylene)(2) (X = Cl, Br) by [Co(dimethylglyoximate)(3)(BF)(2)]BF(4) and the Oxidation of Re(2)Br(4)(PMe(2)Ph)(4) by [Co(1,2-cyclohexanedione dioximate)(3)(BBu)(2)]BF(4)

The kinetics of the oxidation of beta-Re(2)X(4)(cis-1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethylene)(2) (X = Cl, Br) by the cobalt clathrochelate [Co(dimethylglyoximate)(3)(BF)(2)]BF(4) and the oxidation of Re(2)Br(4)(PMe(2)Ph)(4) by the cobalt clathrochelate [Co(1,2-cyclohexanedione dioximate)(3)(BBu)(2)]BF(4) have been studied by the stopped-flow method as a function of temperature (-85 to -19 degrees C), added Bu(4)NBF(4) (0-0.100 M), and reactant concentration in the low dielectric solvent methylene chloride. For each reaction, approximately 100 different conditions were studied. The observed rate constants were well fit by a mechanism involving separate paths for free ion and the ion-paired Co(III) oxidant. The analysis yielded values for DeltaH() and DeltaS() for each path of each reaction and consistent DeltaH degrees and DeltaS degrees values for the ion-pairing of the cationic reactant and the electrolyte. In addition, temperature-dependent electrochemical measurements in 0.10 M Bu(4)NBF(4) yielded DeltaH degrees and DeltaS degrees for the electron transfer process. This is the first measurement of the homogeneous electron transfer reactivity of the dirhenium complexes, and they showed the expected high reactivity. The most notable result is a very high inhibition (ca. 700-fold) by added salt of only the [Co(dmg)(3)(BF)(2)]BF(4) reactions. We attribute this to a change of rate-controlling step, for the ion-paired path, to one involving anion migration. This appears only to occur when the magnitude of ion-pairing free energy is significantly greater than the magnitude of the free energy change for the electron transfer process.     

A Fluorescence Quenching Method for the Determination of Iodide Ion with Salicylfluorone and Hydrogen Peroxide

Abstract

A highly sensitive and selective fluorescence quenching method has been developed for rapid determination of iodide ion with salicylfluorone (SAF) as fluorogenic reagent (λ_ex = 495 nm, λ_em = 520 nm) at pH 2.5-3.0. The calibration graph is linear over the range 0.05-300 μg/25 ml. The detection limit is 0.05 μ/25 ml iodide. Other halide ions do not interfere with the determination even when present in large excess. The method is rapid and was successfully applied for the determination of iodide ion in sodium chloride, table salt and low sodium salt.     

The adduction behavior of water reactant ions with mobility shift reagents in ion mobility spectrometry is determined by the number of locations for adduction,interaction energies,proton affinities,and steric hindrance of these species

The introduction of mobility shift reagents (SRs) into the buffer gas of mobility spectrometers yields SR-ion clusters that decrease ion mobilities and allow the separation of overlapping ions. With a large amount of papers on the introduction of SRs in ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) few investigations explain the behavior of the adducts of reactant ions with SRs and it is not clear what type of peaks to expect which obscures the interpretation of spectra. Electrospray-ionization IMS was coupled to quadrupole mass spectrometry, and 2-butanol (B), ethyl lactate (L), and methanol were introduced as SRs into the buffer gas. The hybrid functional X3LYP/6–311++(d,p) with Gaussian 09 was used for theoretical calculations of SR-ion interaction energies. Adducts of the reactant ions with B and L presented different behaviors; even at low flow rates, L consumed all sodium, reactant ions, and water by adduction, because a) in the experimental conditions, SRs were more concentrated in the buffer gas than reactant ions, b) L’s high proton affinity and c) L’s three electron-donor oxygens, increases adduction. Therefore, chemical equilibria in the buffer gas were only between L and L_nH⁺, L_mH₃O⁺, or L_xNa⁺ adducts and, consequently, these sets of adducts had different mobilities. The lower mobility of L_mH₃O⁺ compared to L_nH⁺ was explained on the base of the lower steric hindrance in LH₃O⁺ for attachment of L molecules. The behavior of reactant ions with B was different: B_nH₃O⁺ and B_nH⁺ overlapped because the relatively low proton affinity and the single and weaker interaction site in B allowed protons and water to be exchanged between species. Finally, L₄H⁺, L₄H₃O⁺, B₄H⁺ and B₅H⁺ ions, not reported before, were seen for large SR concentrations. This study explains two different behaviors of the adducts of SRs with reactant ions using interaction energies, proton affinities, steric hindrance, and the number of locations for adduction.     

Meisenheimer complexes bonded at carbon and at oxygen

The carbon-bonded gas-phase Meisenheimer complex of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and the nitromethyl carbanion CH(2)NO(2)(-) (m/z 60) is generated for the first time by chemical ionization using nitromethane as the reagent gas. Collision-induced dissociation (CID) of the Meisenheimer complex furnishes deprotonated TNT, a result of the higher gas-phase acidity of TNT than nitromethane. The formation of Meisenheimer complexes with CH(2)NO(2)(-) in the gas phase is selective to highly electron-deficient compounds such as dinitrobenzene and trinitrobenzene and does not occur with organic molecules with lower electron-affinity such as methanol, methylamine, propionaldehyde, acetone, ethyl acetate, chloroform, toluene, m-methoxytoluene, and even nitrobenzene and p-fluoronitrobenzene. As such, the reaction allows selective detection of TNT in mixtures. Meisenheimer complexes between CH(2)NO(2)(-) and the three dinitrobenzene isomers display distinctive fragmentations. The oxygen-bonded sigma-complex of TNT with the deprotonated hemiacetal anion CH(3)OCH(2)O(-) (m/z 61), represents a different type of Meisenheimer complex. It displays characteristic fragmentation involving loss of HNO(2) upon CID. The combination of a selective ion/molecule reaction (Meisenheimer complex formation) followed by a characteristic CID process provides a second novel and highly selective approach to the detection of TNT and closely related compounds in mixtures. The assay is readily implemented using neutral loss scans in a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. Gas-phase reactions of denitrosylated TNT with benzaldehyde produce the corresponding dihydrofuran in an aldol condensation, a result that parallels the corresponding condensed-phase reaction.     

Reactions of poly(ethylene glycol) cations with iodide and perfluorocarbon anions

Multiply charged poly(ethylene glycol) ions of the form (M+nNa) ⁿ⁺ derived from electrospray ionization have been subjected to reactions with negative ions in the quadrupole ion trap. Mixtures of multiply charged positive ions ranging in average mass from about 2000 to about 14,000 Da were observed to react with perfluorocarbon anions by either proton transfer or fluoride transfer. Iodide anions reacted with the same positive ions by attachment. In no case was fragmentation of the polymer ion observed. In all cases, the multiply charged positive ion charge states could be readily reduced to +1, thereby eliminating the charge state overlap observed in the normal electrospray mass spectrum. With all three reaction mechanisms, however, the +1 product ions were comprised of mixtures of products with varying numbers of sodium ions, and in the case of iodide attachment and fluoride transfer, varying numbers of halogen anions. These reactions shift the mass distributions to higher masses and broaden the distributions. The extents to which these effects occur are functions of the magnitudes of the initial charges and the width of the initial charge state distributions. Care must be taken in deriving information about the polymer molecular weight distribution from the singly charged product ions arising from these ion/ion reactions. The cluster ions containing iodide were shown to be intermediates in sodium ion transfer. Dissociation of the adduct ions can therefore lead to a +1 product ion population that is comprised predominantly of M+Na⁺ ions. However, a strategy based on the dissociation of the iodide cluster ions is limited by difficulties in dissociating high mass-to-charge ions in the quadrupole ion trap.     

Ionization mechanism of negative ion-direct analysis in real time: A comparative study with negative ion-atmospheric pressure photoionization

The ionization mechanism of negative ion-direct analysis in real time (NI-DART) has been investigated using over 42 compounds, including fullerenes, perfluorocarbons (PFC), organic explosives, phenols, pentafluorobenzyl (PFB) derivatized phenols, anilines, and carboxylic acids, which were previously studied by negative ion-atmospheric pressure photoionization (NI-APPI). NI-DART generated ionization products similar to NI-APPI, which led to four ionization mechanisms, including electron capture (EC), dissociative EC, proton transfer, and anion attachment. These four ionization mechanisms make both NI-DART and NI-APPI capable of ionizing a wider range of compounds than negative ion-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) or negative ion-electrospray ionization (ESI). As the operation of NI-DART is much easier than that of NI-APPI and the gas-phase ion chemistry of NI-DART is more easily manipulated than that of NI-APPI, NI-DART can be therefore used to study in detail the ionization mechanism of LC/NI-APPI-MS, which would be a powerful methodology for the quantification of low-polarity compounds. Herein, one such application has been further demonstrated in the detection and identification of background ions from LC solvents and APPI dopants, including water, acetonitrile, chloroform, methylene chloride, methanol, 2-propanol, hexanes, heptane, cyclohexane, acetone, tetrahydrofuran (THF), 1,4-dioxane, toluene, and anisole. Possible reaction pathways leading to the formation of these background ions were further inferred. One of the conclusions from these experiments is that THF and 1,4-dioxane are inappropriate to be used as solvents and/or dopants for LC/NI-APPI-MS due to their high reactivity with source basic ions, leading to many reactant ions in the background.     

Chemical ionization and electron impact mass spectrometry of some organophosphonate compounds

The application of gas chromatography chemical ionization mass spectrometry to the determination of a variety of alkyl alkylphosphonates, phosphonofluoridates, phosphonothiolates and an amidophosphorocyanidate is described. Comparison is made between the electron ionization and chemical ionization mass spectrometry of these compounds. Chemical ionization mass spectrometry is shown to enhance the capability for identification, especially when a limited sample is available. Results indicate that methane is highly useful for obtaining protonated molecular ions and association ions (formed by the transfer of a reactant ion to a sample molecule) as well as meaningful fragment ions. Ionizing ethylene and isobutane gives protonated molecular ions as base peaks for all of the compounds studied, including those where a lower abundance of the [MH]₊ ion is found via methane chemical ionization mass spectrometry. Ethylene is superior to isobutane on the basis of its effectiveness for serving as both a carrier and a reagent gas and gives better sensitivity. Although not an intrinsic part of this present study, analytical sensitivities in the subnanogram range were found.