Time-of-flight ion mobility spectrometry and differential mobility spectrometry: A comparative study of their efficiency in the analysis of halogenated compounds

The ion mobilities of halogenated aromatics which are of interest in environmental chemistry and process monitoring were characterized with field-deployable ion mobility spectrometers and differential mobility spectrometers. The dependence of mobility of gas-phase ions formed by atmospheric-pressure photoionization (APPI) on the electric field was determined for a number of structural isomers. The structure of the product ions formed was identified by investigations using the coupling of ion mobility spectrometry with mass spectrometry (APPI-IMS-MS) and APPI-MS. In contrast to conventional time-of-flight ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) with constant linear voltage gradients in drift tubes, differential mobility spectrometry (DMS) employs the field dependence of ion mobility. Depending on the position of substituents, differences in field dependence were established for the isomeric compounds in contrast to conventional IMS in which comparable reduced mobility values were detected for the isomers investigated. These findings permit the differentiation between most of the investigated isomeric aromatics with a different constitution using DMS.     

Separation of catechin epimers by complexation using ion mobility mass spectrometry

Ion mobility coupled with mass spectrometry provides a fast and repeatable method to separate catechin epimers by previous complexation with selected chiral modifiers and transition metals. Several combinations with chiral ligands such as D‐ and L‐amino acids and/or additional metal cations, chiral crown ethers, tartaric acid and heptakis(2,6‐di‐O‐methyl)‐β‐cyclodextrin were screened for their ability to affect the separation efficiency. The clusters having the form of [2M + D‐amino acid + Cu²⁺ ? 3H]^? (M stands for (?)‐epicatechin or (+)‐catechin) showed improvement in stereodifferentiation between two epimeric catechins in comparison to the analysis of pure epimers, where no separation was observed or the separation was hampered by the formation of mixed dimer complexes. Among various examined D‐amino acids only those possessing hydrophobic side chains induced the improvement of separation efficiency. The best peak‐to‐peak resolution (R_p–p) was determined to be 0.71 for [2M + D‐Leucine + Cu²⁺ ? 3H]^? clusters. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identification and separation of saxitoxins using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography coupled to traveling wave ion mobility‐mass spectrometry

The aim of this work was to develop a reliable and efficient analytical method to characterise and differentiate saxitoxin analogues (STX), including sulphated (gonyautoxins, GTX) and non‐sulphated analogues. For this purpose, hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) was used to separate sulphated analogues. We also resorted to ion mobility spectrometry to differentiate the STX analogues because this technique adds a new dimension of separation based on ion gas phase conformation. Positive and negative ionisation modes were used for gonyautoxins while positive ionisation mode was used for non‐sulphated analogues. Subsequently, the coupling of these three complementary techniques, HILIC‐IM‐MS, permitted the separation and identification of STX analogues; isomer differentiation was achieved in HILIC dimension while non‐sulphated analogues were separated in the IM‐MS dimension. Additional structural characteristics concerning the conformation of STXs could be obtained using IM‐MS measurements. Thus, the collision cross sections (CCS) of STXs are reported for the first time in the positive ionisation mode. These experimental CCSs correlated well with the calculated CCS values using the trajectory method. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry of porphyrins and porphyrinogens in biological materials: separation and identification of interfering poly(ethylene) glycol by travelling wave ion mobility spectrometry/tandem mass spectrometry

Biological and clinical samples for porphyrin and porphyrinogen analyses by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) are often contaminated with poly(ethylene)glycol (PEG), which complicates the interpretation of mass spectra and characterisation of new porphyrin metabolites. Two contaminating PEG molecules (m/z 833 and m/z 835) were completely separated from uroporphyrin I (m/z 831) by travelling wave ion mobility spectrometry and characterised by tandem mass spectrometry. One of the PEG species (m/z 835) also co‐eluted with uroporphyrinogen I (m/z 837) and was unresolvable by travelling wave ion mobility spectrometry/MS, therefore contaminating the MS/MS mass spectra owing to isotope distribution. These PEG species, with the [M + H]⁺ ions at m/z at 833 and/or m/z 835, co‐eluted with uroporphyrin I and uroporphyrinogen I by LC‐MS/MS and could be wrongly identified as uroporphomethenes. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characterization of polysorbate 85, a nonionic surfactant,by liquid chromatography vs. ion mobility separation coupled with tandem mass spectrometry

Liquid chromatography (LC) and ion mobility (IM) separation have been coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS²) to characterize a commercially important nonionic surfactant, polysorbate 85. The constituents of this amphiphilic blend contained a sorbitan or isosorbide core that was chain extended with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and partially esterified at the PEO termini with oleic acid or, to a lesser extent, other fatty acids. Using interactive LC in reverse-phase mode, the oligomers of the surfactant were separated according to their hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity balance. On the other hand, IM spectrometry dispersed the surfactant oligomers by their charge and collision cross section (i.e. size/shape). With either separation method, an increased number of fatty ester groups and/or lack of the polar sorbitan (or isosorbide) core led to higher retention/drift times, enabling the separation of isobaric species or species with superimposed isotope patterns, so that their ester content could be conclusively identified by MS². LC–MS and IM–MS permitted the detection of several byproducts besides the major PEO-sorbitan oleate oligomers. LC–MS provides the separation resolution needed for quantitative determination of the degree of esterification. IM–MS, which minimizes analysis time and solvent use, is ideally suitable for a fast, qualitative survey of samples differing in their minor constituents or impurities.     

Atmospheric-pressure ionization studies and field dependence of ion mobilities of isomeric hydrocarbons using a miniature differential mobility spectrometer

The ionization pathways and ion mobility were determined for sets of structural isomeric and stereoisomeric non-polar hydrocarbons (saturated and unsaturated cyclic hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbons) using a novel miniature differential mobility spectrometer with atmospheric-pressure photoionization (APPI) to assess how structural and stereochemical differences influence ion formation and ion mobility. The analytical results obtained using the differential mobility spectrometry (DMS) were compared with the reduced mobility values measured using conventional time-of-flight ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) with the same ionization technique.The majority of differences in DMS ion mobility spectra observed among isomeric cyclic hydrocarbons can be explained by the formation of different product ions. Comparable differences in ion formation were also observed using conventional IMS and by investigations using the coupling of ion mobility spectrometry with mass spectrometry (APPI-IMS-MS) and APPI-MS. Using DMS, isomeric aromatic hydrocarbons can in the majority of cases be distinguished by the different behavior of product ions in the strong asymmetric radio frequency (rf) electric field of the drift channel. The different peak position of product ions depending on the electric field amplitude permits the differentiation between most of the investigated isomeric aromatics with a different constitution; this stands in contrast to conventional IMS in which comparable reduced mobility values were detected for the isomeric aromatic compounds.     

Kinetic measurements of phosphoglucose isomerase and phosphomannose isomerase by direct analysis of phosphorylated aldose–ketose isomers using tandem mass spectrometry

A mass spectrometry based method for the direct determination of kinetic constants for phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI) and phosphomannose isomerase (PMI) is described. PGI catalyzes the interconversion between glucose-6-phosphate (Glc6P) and fructose-6-phosphate (Fru6P) and PMI performs the same function between mannose-6-phosphate (Man6P) and Fru6P. These two enzymes are essential in the pathways of glycolytic or oxidative metabolism of carbohydrates and have been considered as potential therapeutic targets. Traditionally, they are assayed either by spectrophotometric detection of Glc6P with one or more coupling enzymes or by a colorimetric detection of Fru6P. However, no suitable assay for Man6P has been developed yet to study the reaction of PMI in the direction from Fru6P to Man6P. In the work presented herein, a general assay for the isomeric substrate-product pair between Glc6P and Fru6P or between Man6P and Fru6P was developed, with the aim of directly studying the kinetics of PGI and PMI in both directions. The 6-phosphorylated aldose and ketose isomers were distinguished based on their corresponding tandem mass spectra (MS²) obtained on a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer, and a multicomponent quantification method was utilized to determine the composition of binary mixtures. Using this method, the conversion between Fru6P and Glc6P and that between Fru6P and Man6P are directly monitored. The equilibrium constants for the reversible reactions catalyzed by PGI and PMI are measured to be 0.3 and 1.1, respectively, and the kinetic parameters for both substrates of PGI and PMI are also determined. The values of K_M and V_max for Fru6P as substrate of PMI are reported to be 0.15 mM and 7.78 μmol/(min mg), respectively. All other kinetic parameters measured correlate well with those obtained using traditional methods, demonstrating the accuracy and reliability of this assay.     

Measurements of coeluting unlabeled and C-labeled polychlorinated biphenyl congeners with partially overlapping fragment profiles using a tandem mass spectrometry

¹³C-labeled compounds are often employed as surrogate or internal standards to monitor the performance of extraction and instrumental analysis procedures for their unlabeled counterparts. However, labeled and unlabeled counterparts most often coelute chromatographically with overlapping mass ion fragments, posing a challenge to the accurate quantification of these compounds. In the present study, an analytical scheme, using coeluting unlabeled and ¹³C-labeled polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners as the model compounds, was developed with a low-resolution tandem mass spectrometer (MS/MS) to determine the appropriate ranges of PCB congener concentrations that satisfy the no-interference condition. Interferences from unlabeled PCBs to quantitation of labeled counterparts could be minimized when ¹³C-labeled PCB congeners were quantified in the MS/MS mode within a certain concentration range. In addition, good agreements between the measured and theoretically predicted quantitation errors were observed for all labeled PCB congeners except PCB 180. The exception with labeled PCB 180 was mainly attributed to the occurrence of instrumental analytical uncertainty, as analytical error was also observed with absence of unlabeled PCB 180. These results indicate that MS/MS techniques can serve as a useful tool to minimize interferences with quantitation of isotopically labeled compounds from their unlabeled counterparts, which possess partially overlapping ion fragment profiles.     

Separation of isomeric disaccharides by traveling wave ion mobility mass spectrometry using CO2 as drift gas

The use of CO₂ as a massive and polarizable drift gas is shown to greatly improve peak‐to‐peak resolution (R_p‐p), as compared with N₂, for the separation of disaccharides in a Synapt G2 traveling wave ion mobility cell. Near or baseline R_p‐p was achieved for three pairs of sodiated molecules of disaccharide isomers, that is, cellobiose and sucrose (R_p‐p = 0.76), maltose and sucrose (R_p‐p = 1.04), and maltose and lactose (R_p‐p = 0.74). Ion mobility mass spectrometry using CO₂ as the drift gas offers therefore an attractive alternative for fast and efficient separation of isomeric disaccharides. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characterizing ion mobility and collision cross section of fatty acids using electrospray ion mobility mass spectrometry

This study investigated the ion mobility (IM) and the collision cross section (CCS) of fatty acids (FAs) using electrospray IM MS. The IM analysis of 18 FA ions showed intriguing differences among the saturated FAs, monounsaturated FAs, multi‐unsaturated FAs, and cis‐isomer/trans‐isomer with respect to the aliphatic tail chains. The length of aliphatic tail chain present in the ion structures had a strong influence on the differentiation of drift, while the number of double bond showed a weaker influence. The tiny drift differences between cis‐isomer and trans‐isomer were also observed. In the CCS measurements, two internal standards were involved in the mobility calibration and accuracy estimation. It insured our empirical CCS values were of high experimental precision (±0.35% or better) and accuracy (±0.25% or better). Moreover, the mass‐to‐charge ratio (m/z) – mobility plots obtained by ion mobility spectrometry with mass spectrometry analysis of FAs – was used to investigate the structural relationship between the molecules. Each series of FAs sharing a similar structure was aligned in the linear plot. Finally, the developed procedure was applied to the determination of FAs in rat adipose tissues, and it allowed the presence of 13 FAs to be confirmed with their exact masses and CCS values. These studies reveal the direct relationship between the behaviors in IM and the molecular structures and thus may provide further validations to the FA identification process. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

高效液相色谱-电喷雾离子阱质谱联用法测定金银花中绿原酸和咖啡酸

建立了高效液相色谱-电喷雾离子阱质谱法(HPLC-ESI-ITMSn)同时测定了金银花中绿原酸和咖啡酸活性成分的分析方法。样品用体积分数80%乙醇回流提取,用Zorbax Eclipse XDB-C18柱分离,以体积分数0.5%甲酸的乙腈-甲酸水溶液为梯度流动相,以保留时间和质荷比对分离出的组分予以定性确证,用峰面积进行定量。绿原酸和咖啡酸的线性范围均为10.0~1000.0μg/L,检出限(以信噪比为3计)均为2.0μg/L。样品的加标平均回收率为92.7%~98.7%,相对标准偏差为1.4%~2.7%。该方法适用于其它复杂体系中绿原酸和咖啡酸的分析。     

Comparison of differential mobility spectrometry and mass spectrometry for gas chromatographic detection of ignitable liquids from fire debris using projected difference resolution

The significance of forensic arson analysis accelerates the applications of new technologies in this area. Based on the previously reported application of differential mobility spectrometry (DMS) as a detection method for gas chromatography (GC) in arson analysis, the performances of DMS and mass spectrometry (MS) were compared using a novel chemometric tool, projected difference resolutions (PDRs). The PDR results show that one-way mass spectra data exhibit higher resolution than DMS data, while total ion chromatograms from GC–DMS show higher resolution than that from GC/MS for differentiating seven kinds of ignitable liquids. Combining the information from both chromatography and spectra, two-way data always have higher resolution than one-way data for these two detection methods, and GC/MS would exhibit better performance than GC–DMS according to the minimum resolution value. To verify the PDR results, a fuzzy rule-building expert system was applied for classifying these seven kinds of ignitable liquids from fire debris based on GC–DMS and GC/MS data, respectively. The prediction accuracies were consistent with PDR results, which proved that PDR is a powerful tool in comparing the performances of different analysis methods for pattern recognition. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Size dependence of the folding of multiply charged sodium cationized polylactides revealed by ion mobility mass spectrometry and molecular modelling

Ion mobility spectrometry coupled with mass spectrometry was used to experimentally determine the three-dimensional structure of multiply charged sodium cationized polylactides (PLA). In particular, the experiments were conducted to evaluate the influence of the charge state and the size on the gas-phase conformation of cationized PLA. The measured collision cross sections were then compared to calculated values obtained by computational chemistry methods. The most striking feature was the experimental and theoretical observation of a breaking point in the quasilinear relationship between the average collision cross sections and the number of monomer units for the triply charged cations. This breaking point was theoretically demonstrated, for the doubly and triply charged cations, to be associated with a significant folding of the polymer chains around the cationizing agents. The occurrence of such breaking points could be exploited to correlate the charge state of the most intense ion series observed upon electrospray ionization with the number-average molecular mass of a polymer.     

Enhancement of mass spectrometry performance for proteomic analyses using highfield asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS)

Remarkable advances in mass spectrometry sensitivity and resolution have been accomplished over the past two decades to enhance the depth and coverage of proteome analyses. As these technological developments expanded the detection capability of mass spectrometers, they also revealed an increasing complexity of low abundance peptides, solvent clusters and sample contaminants that can confound protein identification. Separation techniques that are complementary and can be used in combination with liquid chromatography are often sought to improve mass spectrometry sensitivity for proteomics applications. In this context, high‐field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS), a form of ion mobility that exploits ion separation at low and high electric fields, has shown significant advantages by focusing and separating multiply charged peptide ions from singly charged interferences. This paper examines the analytical benefits of FAIMS in proteomics to separate co‐eluting peptide isomers and to enhance peptide detection and quantitative measurements of protein digests via native peptides (label‐free) or isotopically labeled peptides from metabolic labeling or chemical tagging experiments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Profiling and imaging of tissues by imaging ion mobility-mass spectrometry

Molecular profiling and imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) of tissues can often result in complex spectra that are difficult to interpret without additional information about specific signals. This report describes increasing data dimensionality in IMS by combining two-dimensional separations at each spatial location on the basis of imaging ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS). Analyte ions are separated on the basis of both ion-neutral collision cross section and m/z, which provides rapid separation of isobaric, but structurally distinct ions. The advantages of imaging using ion mobility prior to MS analysis are demonstrated for profiling of human glioma and selective lipid imaging from rat brain.     

Analyzing slowly exchanging protein conformations by ion mobility mass spectrometry: study of the dynamic equilibrium of prolyl oligopeptidase

Ion mobility mass spectrometry (IMMS) is a biophysical technique that allows the separation of isobaric species on the basis of their size and shape. The high separation capacity, sensitivity and relatively fast time scale measurements confer IMMS great potential for the study of proteins in slow (µs–ms) conformational equilibrium in solution. However, the use of this technique for examining dynamic proteins is still not generalized. One of the major limitations is the instability of protein ions in the gas phase, which raises the question as to what extent the structures detected reflect those in solution. Here, we addressed this issue by analyzing the conformational landscape of prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) – a model of a large dynamic enzyme in the µs–ms range – by native IMMS and compared the results obtained in the gas phase with those obtained in solution. In order to interpret the experimental results, we used theoretical simulations. In addition, the stability of POP gaseous ions was explored by charge reduction and collision‐induced unfolding experiments. Our experiments disclosed two species of POP in the gas phase, which correlated well with the open and closed conformations in equilibrium in solution; moreover, a gas‐phase collapsed form of POP was also detected. Therefore, our findings not only support the potential of IMMS for the study of multiple co‐existing conformations of large proteins in slow dynamic equilibrium in solution but also stress the need for careful data analysis to avoid artifacts. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determination of ion mobility collision cross sections for unresolved isomeric mixtures using tandem mass spectrometry and chemometric deconvolution

Ion mobility (IM) is an important analytical technique for determining ion collision cross section (CCS) values in the gas-phase and gaining insight into molecular structures and conformations. However, limited instrument resolving powers for IM may restrict adequate characterization of conformationally similar ions, such as structural isomers, and reduce the accuracy of IM-based CCS calculations. Recently, we introduced an automated technique for extracting “pure” IM and collision-induced dissociation (CID) mass spectra of IM overlapping species using chemometric deconvolution of post-IM/CID mass spectrometry (MS) data [J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom., 2014, 25, 1810–1819]. Here we extend those capabilities to demonstrate how extracted IM profiles can be used to calculate accurate CCS values of peptide isomer ions which are not fully resolved by IM. We show that CCS values obtained from deconvoluted IM spectra match with CCS values measured from the individually analyzed corresponding peptides on uniform field IM instrumentation. We introduce an approach that utilizes experimentally determined IM arrival time (AT) “shift factors” to compensate for ion acceleration variations during post-IM/CID and significantly improve the accuracy of the calculated CCS values. Also, we discuss details of this IM deconvolution approach and compare empirical CCS values from traveling wave (TW)IM-MS and drift tube (DT)IM-MS with theoretically calculated CCS values using the projected superposition approximation (PSA). For example, experimentally measured deconvoluted TWIM-MS mean CCS values for doubly-protonated RYGGFM, RMFGYG, MFRYGG, and FRMYGG peptide isomers were 288.₈ Å², 295.₁ Å², 296.₈ Å², and 300.₁ Å²; all four of these CCS values were within 1.5% of independently measured DTIM-MS values.     

离子色谱-串联质谱法检测茶叶中的高氯酸盐

建立了离子色谱-串联质谱检测茶叶中高氯酸盐的分析方法。选用高容量、强亲水性的IonPac AS20阴离子交换柱（2 mm）进行分离,以淋洗液自动发生器在线产生的70 mmol/L氢氧化钾为淋洗液等浓度淋洗,TSQ Quantiva三重四极杆质谱仪作检测器,采用电喷雾电离源负离子（ESI^-）模式、多反应监测（MRM）模式进行分析,内标法定量。结果表明,高氯酸盐在0.02~10.0 μg/L范围内线性关系良好,相关系数（r）为0.9991,定量限为2 μg/kg。运用该方法测定5种茶叶中的高氯酸盐,加标回收率为87.3%~112.2%。该方法具有操作简单、专属性强、灵敏度高等优点,可满足茶叶中高氯酸盐的检测要求。     

Investigation of isomeric flavanol structures in black tea thearubigins using ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled to hybrid quadrupole/ion mobility/time of flight mass spectrometry

Ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) when coupled to ion mobility (IMS)/orthogonal acceleration time of flight mass spectrometry is a suitable technique for analyzing complex mixtures such as the black tea thearubigins. With the aid of this advanced instrumental analysis, we were able to separate and identify different isomeric components in the complex mixture which could previously not be differentiated by a conventional high performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. In this study, the difference between isomeric structures theasinensins, proanthocyanidins B‐type and rutin (quercetin‐3O‐rutinoside) were studied, and these are present abundantly in many botanical sources. The differentiation between these structures was accomplished according to their acquired mobility drift times differing from the traditional investigations in mass spectrometry, where calculation of theoretical collisional cross sections allowed assignment of the individual isomeric structures. The present work demonstrates UPLC–IMS‐MS as an efficient technology for isolating and separating isobaric and isomeric structures existing in complex mixtures discriminating between them according to their characteristic fragment ions and mobility drift times. Therefore, a rational assignment of isomeric structures in many phenolic secondary metabolites based on the ion mobility data might be useful in mass spectrometry‐based structure analysis in the future. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multi-parameter investigation of tandem mass spectrometry in a linear ion trap using response surface modelling

The feasibility of experimental design in combination with subsequent response surface modelling was illustrated for the prediction and interpretation of tandem mass spectrometric (MS/MS) fragmentation data using a linear quadrupole ion trap under various experimental conditions. The instrumental parameters included were (i) the pressure of the collision gas, (ii) the collision energy, (iii) the fill time of the linear ion trap and (iv) the scan rate. The spectral intensity and width of five fragment ions of the doubly charged neuro-active peptide bombesin were used for evaluation, and all experiments were performed so as to resemble the results obtained from a liquid chromatographic peak. The reported results show how fairly simple mathematical tools can be utilized successfully to describe fundamental mechanisms associated with multiple collisional activation and collision-induced dissociation processes without an extensively controlled experimental environment. Most beneficial, using the suggested approach, is the ability to study interaction (synergistic) effects between various parameters. As was realized from the results, many interaction effects are indeed significant. For example, the effect on the signal intensity of different collision gas pressure settings is strongly dependent on the settings of the other parameters. The described approach can easily be adopted for optimization purposes of any MS/MS experiment.