PNNL

Abstract

Under and overfragmentation are significant hurdles to the data independent “bottom-up” approach to proteomics. Another challenge to the data independent approach is the convolution of fragments from different peptides that coelute in reverse-phase liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (RPLC/MS). The ion mobility/collision induced dissociation/time-of flight mass spectrometry (IMS/CID/TOF MS) approach gives drift-time aligned fragment ions that have the same arrival time distributions as precursor ions, greatly aiding in fragment and peptide ion identification. We have modified an IMS/TOF MS platform to allow for resonant excitation CID experiments. Resonant excitation CID leads to highly efficient, mass-resolved fragmentation without additional excitation of product ions, alleviating the overfragmentation problem. The ability to apply resonant waveforms in mobility-resolved windows has been demonstrated with a peptide mixture yielding fragmentation over a range of mass-to-charge (m/z) ratios within a single IMS separation experiment.