PNNL

Abstract

In the last decade characterization of complex molecules, particularly biomolecules, became a focus of both fundamental and applied research in mass spectrometry. Most of these studies utilize tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) for obtaining structural information for complex molecules. MS/MS typically involves the mass selection of a primary ion, its activation by collision or photon excitation, unimolecular decay into fragment ions characteristic of the ion structure and its internal excitation, and mass analysis of the fragment ions. A wide variety of mass filters and ion excitation methods can be employed in these experiments, making tandem mass spectrometry an extremely flexible analytical technique that can be implemented on almost any type of mass spectrometer.