PNNL

Abstract

We describe the coupling of liquid chromatography (LC) separations with mass spectrometry (MS) using nanoelectrospray ionization (nanoESI) multi-emitters. The array of 19 emitters reduced the flow rate delivered to each emitter, allowing the enhanced sensitivity that is characteristic of nanoESI to be extended to higher flow rate separations. The signal for peptides from spiked proteins in a human plasma tryptic digest increased 11-fold on average when the multi-emitters were employed, due to increased ionization efficiency and improved ion transfer efficiency through a newly designed heated multi-capillary MS inlet. Additionally, the LC peak signal-to-noise ratio increased ~7-fold when the multi-emitter configuration was used. The low dead volume of the emitter arrays preserved peak shape and resolution for robust capillary LC separations using total flow rates of 2-µL/min.