Accessing Collision Energies of up to 500V per Charge on a QqTOF Instrument: Structure Characterization of Fullerenes and Large Peptides

摘要

Tandem mass spectrometry using high-pressure collision cells have been limited to energies of the order of 200 electron volts per charge. Most compounds that are analyzed by electrospray are able to be efficiently fragmented in this range, but there are others, including those arising from alternative proteomic workflows that require higher collision energies. Here we describe how a hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer may be used to access CID energies of up to 500V with no hardware change, allowing the structure of compounds that are generally difficult to fragment to be probed. These compounds include fullerenes such as C60 and C70, as well as peptides arising from partial digestion of proteins.