Skip to main content

Activation and Dissociation of Large Molecules in Mass Spectrometry


EMSL Project ID
24493

Abstract

This proposal is a continuation of research under EMSL User Proposal #6291. Mass spectrometry is unique among instrumental analysis techniques in terms of its extraordinary sensitivity, molecular specificity and utility for addressing key questions in a broad range of scientific disciplines. The purpose of our research is to achieve a fundamental understanding of the kinetics and dynamics of activating and dissociating complex molecular ions. These processes are the scientific foundation for tandem mass spectrometry, one of the most important analytical methods developed in the last century. Because of their large number of internal degrees of freedom the kinetics of dissociation of large molecular ions are qualitatively and quantitatively different from the analogous behaviour of small molecule counterparts. This makes the study of complex systems interesting from both a fundamental and applied (analytical mass spectrometry) perspective. We have utilized surface-induced dissociation (SID) as a means for depositing very rapidly (a few hundred femtoseconds) relatively large and controllable amounts of internal energy in protonated model peptides as a technically important class of complex molecules, whose characteri-zation by tandem mass spectrometry is central to the emerging field of proteomics.

Project Details

Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2007-06-01
End Date
2010-09-30
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Julia Laskin
Institution
Purdue University

Team Members

Patrick Roach
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Grant Johnson
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Qichi Hu
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Jeffrey Smith
Institution
University of Washington

Zhibo Yang
Institution
University of Colorado at Boulder

Related Publications

The Effect of Solvent on the Analysis of Secondary Organic Aerosol Using Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Bateman AP, ML Walser, Y Dessiaterik, J Laskin, A Laskin, and S Nizkorodov.  2008.  "The Effect of Solvent on the Analysis of Secondary Organic Aerosol Using Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry."  Environmental Science & Technology 42(19):7341-7346.  doi:10.1021/es801226w