The Simulation of Reflectron Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer

Owing to its wide mass range, high sensitivity, fast spectrum registration, and high resolution,the reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer is applied to more and more places. The Simulation of the reflectron TOF-MS is vitally necessary and helpful. The software MAPLE and SIMION are employed in our works.     

Tandem Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer with High Precursor Ion Selectivity Employing Spiral Ion Trajectory and Improved Offset Parabolic Reflectron

In this study, we have developed a tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF/TOF) technique involving the use of a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization ion source that exhibits high precursor ion selectivity. An ion optical system with a 17 m spiral ion trajectory was used in the first time-of-flight mass spectrometer. High precursor ion selectivity was achieved by realizing a 15 m flight path, which is considerably longer than that of the conventional MALDI-TOF/TOF before the precursor ion selection by an ion gate; monoisotopic ions could be selected properly up to m/z 2500. Furthermore, the first time-of-flight mass spectrometer was composed of electrostatic sectors and could eliminate post-source decay (PSD) ions. Precursor ions with 20 keV kinetic energy were selected and injected into a collision cell, leading to the generation of fragment ions by high-energy collision-induced dissociation (HE-CID). The optimized second time-of-flight mass spectrometer included a post-acceleration region and an offset parabolic reflectron to record product ion spectra in the entire mass range. Our system could generate a simple HE-CID product ion spectrum because each fragment pathway could be observed as a single peak by the selection of monoisotopic ions of all precursor ions and HE-CID fragment pathways could be predominantly observed by the PSD ion elimination.     

Modification of Reflectron Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer for Photodissociation of Mass-Selected Cluster lons

We introduce a modification of reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer for laser photodissociation of mass-selected ions. In our apparatus, the ions of interests were selected by a mass gate near the first space focus point and decelerated right after the mass gate, were then crossed by a laser beam for dissociation. The daughter ions and surviving parent ions were re-accelerated and analyzed by the reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Compared to the designs reported by other research groups, our selection-deceleration-dissociation-reacceleration approach has better daughter-parent-ions-separation, easier laser timing, and better overlapping between the ion beam and laser beam. We also conducted detailed cal- culations on the parent ion and daughter ion flight times, and provided a simplified formula for the calibration of daughter ion mass.     

A Reflectron Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer with a Nano-Electrospray Ionization Source for Study of Metal Cluster Compounds

An experiment facility has been set up for the study of metal cluster compounds in our laboratory, which consists of a nano-electrospray ionization source, an ion transmission and focus system, and a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Taking advantage of the nano-electrospray ionization source, polyvalent ions are usually produced in the “ionization” process and the obtained mass resolution of the equipment is over 8000. The molecular ion peaks of metal cluster compounds [Au₂₀(PPhpy₂)₁₀Cl₂](SbF₆)₄, where PPhpy₂=bis(2-pyridyl)phenylphosphine, and [Au₆Ag₂(C)L₆](BF₄)₄, where L=2-(diphenylphosphino)-5-methylpyridine, are distinguished in the respective mass spectrum, accompanied by some fragment ion peaks. In addition, the mass-to-charge ratios of the parent ions are determi-nated. Preliminary results suggest that the device is a powerful tool for the study of metal cluster compounds. It turns out that the information obtained by the instrumentation serves as an essential supplement to single crystal X-ray diffraction for structure characterization of metal cluster compounds.     

High Efficiency Photo-Induced Dissociation of Precursor Ions in a Tandem Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer

High efficiency photo-induced dissociation (PID) has been demonstrated in a tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometer. This instrument focuses isomass ion packets to temporal and spatial dimensions similar to those of the focused laser pulses from a high power excimer laser. This high density overlap of photons and ions yields highly efficient fragmentation and also provides high resolution selection of specific precursor ion mass-to-charge ratio values. Using 193 nm photon excitation of the molecular ion of bromobenzene (m/z = 1561, fragmentation, collection, and PID efficiencies af 79%, 132%, and 104%, respectively, were obtained. Characteristic fragmentations of toluene, nitrobenzene, acetophenone, triethylamine, N,N-diethylformamide, N-methylacetamide, and cyclohexene have also been demonstrated.     

飞行时间质谱仪新技术的进展及应用

本文介绍了近几年来发展应用于飞行时间质谱(TOF-MS)仪中的软电离技术.质子转移电离实现了可挥发性有机物的高灵敏度分析;真空紫外灯电离源体积小、简单,利于便携式仪器;电喷雾解吸电离在线、无损和灵敏度高,在公共安全方面具有很大的发展潜力,而且还可以直接用于活的生物体表面分析;大气压下的在线直接分析电离技术利用载气分子的激发态使得被分析化合物电离得到分子离子.针对不同的电离方法简单评述了其性能及应用,同时介绍了飞行时间质谱在串联方面的新发展,以及TOF-MS在仪器微型化方面的进展及其应用,并对飞行时间质谱仪今后的发展作了展望.     

飞行时间质谱仪新技术的进展及应用

本文介绍了近几年来发展应用于飞行时间质谱(TOF-MS)仪中的软电离技术。质子转移电离实现了可挥发性有机物的高灵敏度分析;真空紫外灯电离源体积小、简单,利于便携式仪器;电喷雾解吸电离在线、无损和灵敏度高,在公共安全方面具有很大的发展潜力,而且还可以直接用于活的生物体表面分析;大气压下的在线直接分析电离技术利用载气分子的激发态使得被分析化合物电离得到分子离子。针对不同的电离方法简单评述了其性能及应用,同时介绍了飞行时间质谱在串联方面的新发展,以及TOF-MS在仪器微型化方面的进展及其应用,并对飞行时间质谱仪今后的发展作了展望。     

Determination of Hydrogen and Oxygen in Chalcogenide Glasses Using a Tandem Laser Mass Reflectron

A procedure was developed for determining hydrogen and oxygen in As–Se and Se–S systems by laser mass spectrometry on a tandem laser mass reflectron. The procedure involves special (both preliminary and in the course of analysis) cleaning of the sample surface with a Q-switched laser. The performance characteristics of the proposed procedure were studied on certified standard reference materials of aluminum alloys, oxygen-doped As₂Se₃, and As₂S₃ with the known absorption at lines of hydrogen-containing impurities. The dependence of the analytical signal on the concentration of gas-forming impurities was linear in the concentration range 10^–5 to 10^–2 mass %. The relative random error of measurements was not worse than 0.21. The detection limit was 8 × 10^–6 mass %.     

A Photoionization Reflectron Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometric Study on the Detection of Ethynamine (HCCNH2) and 2H-Azirine (c-H2CCHN)

Ices of acetylene (C₂H₂) and ammonia (NH₃) were irradiated with energetic electrons to simulate interstellar ices processed by galactic cosmic rays in order to investigate the formation of C₂H₃N isomers. Supported by quantum chemical calculations, experiments detected product molecules as they sublime from the ices using photoionization reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PI-ReTOF-MS). Isotopically-labeled ices confirmed the C₂H₃N assignments while photon energies of 8.81 eV, 9.80 eV, and 10.49 eV were utilized to discriminate isomers based on their known ionization energies. Results indicate the formation of ethynamine (HCCNH₂) and 2H-azirine (c-H₂CCHN) in the irradiated C₂H₂:NH₃ ices, and the energetics of their formation mechanisms are discussed. These findings suggest that these two isomers can form in interstellar ices and, upon sublimation during the hot core phase, could be detected using radio astronomy.     

小型高分辨电子轰击离子源反射式飞行时间质谱仪的研制

常用的气体分析质谱仪使用四极杆质谱作为分析器,分辨率一般低于300,无法解决同质量数离子带来的干扰问题.本实验自行研制了一种小型高分辨气体分析质谱仪,它采用电子轰击离子源反射式飞行时间质量分析器.仪器腔体总长45 cm,在m/z 28的位置,质量分辨率达到3000(Full width at half maximum,FWHM),实现了CO和N2的半峰谷分离;在m/z 69的位置,仪器分辨率达到5000(FWHM).在直接大气压进样条件下,可以检测到空气中136Xe(含量7.8 μ g/m3)和80Kr(含量2.8 μg/m3).使用ADC采集时,仪器的动态范围为1 06.该仪器将作为高端气体质谱仪,应用于过程监测在线分析、环境有机挥发物研究、热分析质谱及催化反应监测等领域.     

四极杆质谱、串联质谱系统在测定血液中毒鼠强的应用

毒鼠强又名424,化学名称为四次甲基二砜四胺(C4H8O4N2S2),分子量240.6,是一种无色无味白色粉末状物质,难溶于乙醇,微溶于水,易溶于丙酮、苯、乙醚,性质稳定,投毒后,不易被人们察觉,一旦中毒,发作快,死亡率高.多数医院难确诊、治疗.目前,对其主要的鉴定法有GC、GC-MS和HPLC等.通常在对毒鼠强中毒的生物检材进行毒鼠强分析时,由于生物组织机体中存在的干扰物质(如脂肪酸、胆固醇等)种类繁多,经净化处理后,其残留量仍然很大,不仅干扰目标化合物的定性,更难进行定量测定.因此GC-MS在定性分析中具有明显优势,因而成为目前主要的分析方法.     

Large-Scale Collision Cross-Section Profiling on a Traveling Wave Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometer

Ion mobility (IM) is a gas-phase electrophoretic method that separates ions according to charge and ion-neutral collision cross-section (CCS). Herein, we attempt to apply a traveling wave (TW) IM polyalanine calibration method to shotgun proteomics and create a large peptide CCS database. Mass spectrometry methods that utilize IM, such as HDMS^E, often use high transmission voltages for sensitive analysis. However, polyalanine calibration has only been demonstrated with low voltage transmission used to prevent gas-phase activation. If polyalanine ions change conformation under higher transmission voltages used for HDMS^E, the calibration may no longer be valid. Thus, we aimed to characterize the accuracy of calibration and CCS measurement under high transmission voltages on a TW IM instrument using the polyalanine calibration method and found that the additional error was not significant. We also evaluated the potential error introduced by liquid chromatography (LC)-HDMS^E analysis, and found it to be insignificant as well, validating the calibration method. Finally, we demonstrated the utility of building a large-population peptide CCS database by investigating the effects of terminal lysine position, via LysC or LysN digestion, on the formation of two structural sub-families formed by triply charged ions.

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High-Capacity Ion Trap Coupled to a Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer for Comprehensive Linked Scans with no Scanning Losses

A high-capacity ion trap coupled to a time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer has been developed to carry out comprehensive linked scan analysis of all stored ions in the ion trap. The approach involves a novel tapered geometry high-capacity ion trap that can store more than 10(6) ions (range 800-4000 m/z) without degrading its performance. Ions are stored and scanned out from the high-capacity ion trap as a function of m/z, collisionally fragmented and analyzed by TOF. Accurate mass analysis is achieved on both the precursor and fragment ions of all species ejected from the ion trap. We demonstrate the approach for comprehensive linked-scan identification of phosphopeptides in mixtures with their corresponding unphosphorylated peptides.     

全二维气相色谱/飞行时间质谱用于烟用香精化学组分的分析

采用全二维气相色谱/飞行时间质谱(GC×GC/TOFMS),以较长的极性柱DB-WAX(60 m×0.25 mm×0.25μm)作为第一柱,较短的中等极性柱DB-1701(3 m×0.1 mm,0.4μm)作为第二柱,对一种国产香烟中常用的烟用香精进行了分析,共鉴定出相似度和反相似度分别大于800和900的化合物有84种(在相同条件下,GC/MS鉴定出的组分数仅为21种)。在与GC×GC/TOFMS相同的分析条件下,利用多内标定量法,用GC-GC/氢火焰离子化检测器(FID)进一步对这些组分进行了准确定量。实验结果很好地解释了该香精的致香机理。     

用于与全二维气相色谱联用的高通量飞行时间质谱仪的研制

研制了可与全二维气相色谱联用的高通量飞行时间质谱仪,并进行了性能水平测试。设计采用新型高灵敏度电子轰击源及具有垂直引入、双推斥脉冲、二级反射式结构的飞行时间质量分析器,结合高于20 kHz的推斥频率,可获得质量范围1~1000 amu,质量分辨>1000(m/z 219,ADC采集卡),检出限低于1 pg,线性动态范围超过4个数量级,同时最快可达400谱/s的高采集速度,完全满足全二维气相色谱与飞行时间质谱联用的检测要求。与一款完全国产化的全二维气相色谱仪联用,实现对石油、香精、环境等多个领域复杂样品的分析,获得令人满意的检测结果,显示了此质谱仪器与全二维气相色谱联用的适用性及其在复杂样品体系全组分分析中的应用潜力。     

宽离子能量检测范围垂直引入反射式飞行时间质谱仪的研制

本实验室研制了国内首台宽离子能量检测范围飞行时间质谱仪。仪器采用紧凑式电子轰击源设计,配合离子透镜系统有效的调制离子流,飞行时间质量分析器采用了离子垂直引入式,双场加速和双场反射以及大尺寸MCP检测装置设计。仪器单离子信号半峰宽约2 ns,仪器分辨率优于1600FWHM,检测实际样品质量范围为1~127 amu(仪器理论质量检测上限优于800 amu),可检测离子能量范围优于2个数量级(3~140 eV)。若该TOF质量分析器与短瞬高压脉冲放电离子源耦合联用,可广泛应用于高能离子束的快速检测,如真空阴极放电对制备薄膜、离子注入材料的表征,导电材料的离子电荷态分布以及离子扩散速度的测定等。     

Activated Ion ETD Performed in a Modified Collision Cell on a Hybrid QLT-Oribtrap Mass Spectrometer

We describe the implementation and characterization of activated ion electron transfer dissociation (AI-ETD) on a hybrid QLT-Orbitrap mass spectrometer. AI-ETD was performed using a collision cell that was modified to enable ETD reactions, in addition to normal collisional activation. The instrument manifold was modified to enable irradiation of ions along the axis of this modified cell with IR photons from a CO₂ laser. Laser power settings were optimized for both charge (z) and mass to charge (m/z) and the instrument control firmware was updated to allow for automated adjustments to the level of irradiation. This implementation of AI-ETD yielded 1.6-fold more unique identifications than ETD in an nLC-MS/MS analysis of tryptic yeast peptides. Furthermore, we investigated the application of AI-ETD on large scale analysis of phosphopeptides, where laser power aids ETD, but can produce b- and y-type ions because of the phosphoryl moiety’s high IR adsorption. nLC-MS/MS analysis of phosphopeptides derived from human embryonic stem cells using AI-ETD yielded 2.4-fold more unique identifications than ETD alone, demonstrating a promising advance in ETD sequencing of PTM containing peptides.

Analysis of Bulk and Powdered Samples Using a LAMAS-10M Laser Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer

The problem of the modernization of a LAMAS-10M laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer was considered, and the methodological fundamentals of the quantitative analysis of bulk and powdered samples by laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry were discussed. Basic modifications of certain spectrometer units were described, and the reproducibility and accuracy that can be attained using these modifications were estimated. The possibility of the quantitative analysis of bulk samples was demonstrated. These studies were performed using bulk and powdered standard reference materials. In determining precious metals in geological samples, the detection limit for powdered samples was (20–50) × 10^–9. The relative standard deviation for the repeatability of the results (RSD) of the bronze standard reference sample bronza 663 was in the limits RSD = 0.06–0.4% for the major component and 0.5–4.5% for the elements present in percent concentrations. It was shown that the majority of analytes can be determined at a semiquantitative level without using standard reference materials. The key problems of laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry were considered and methods were proposed to solve these problems. Ways to further improvement of the characteristics of the mass spectrometer were demonstrated.     

串联质谱系统在毒鼠强测定中的应用

采用串联质谱技术（ＭＳ－ＭＳ）,对以生物为基体的毒鼠强中毒检品分析方法进行了研究,被检测物含量在５＊１０＾－１１ｇ时,信噪比Ｓ／Ｎ达２６,在（４０－４００）＊１０＾－１２ｇ范围内获得良好的线性关系。该方法同样适合于其它复杂基体的超微量目标化合物的分析。