| Abstract: | Fast atom bombardment of solids is presented as the basis of a new ion source for mass spectrometry. This novel technique is particularly useful for obtaining mass spectra from involatile and thermally labile materials. The ion source produces both positive and negative ions with equal facility, and examples of both are presented for two underivatized tripeptides. The normal second field free region metastables are observed in a double focusing mass spectrometer and comprehensive metastable pathways have been traced using Barber-Elliott (V-scan) techniques. |
