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Electrospray ionisation (revision 1)

Old revision·09:00, 1 Sep 2024·OralSemaOswin

This is an old revision of this page, as it stood at 09:00, 1 Sep 2024, saved by OralSemaOswin with the summary start article on the analytical method. It may differ substantially from the current revision, and any error it contains may since have been corrected.
Electrospray ionisation
AbbreviationESI
ProducesMultiply charged ions from solution
NatureSoft; molecule survives intact
Compatible withLiquid chromatography
Analytical method infobox · conventions

Electrospray ionisation transfers molecules from solution into the gas phase as ions. A solution is sprayed from a capillary held at high potential, producing charged droplets whose solvent evaporates until ions are released.[1]

It is a soft technique — the molecule survives largely intact — and it produces multiply charged ions from peptides and proteins, so a large molecule appears at a mass-to-charge ratio within the range of ordinary analysers. A single peptide therefore produces a series of peaks at successive charge states, deconvolved by software into one neutral mass.[2]

References

  1. ^ Fenn JB, Mann M, Meng CK, Wong SF, Whitehouse CM. "Electrospray ionization for mass spectrometry of large biomolecules." Science 246(4926):64–71 (1989). PMID 2675315.
  2. ^ Aebersold R, Mann M. "Mass spectrometry-based proteomics." Nature 422(6928):198–207 (2003). PMID 12634793.