PNNL

Abstract

The electrodynamic ion funnel facilitates efficient focusing and transfer of charged particles in the higher pressure regions (e.g. ion source interfaces) of mass spectrometers, and thus providing increased sensitivity. An “off-axis” ion funnel design has been developed to reduce the source contamination and interferences from, e.g. ESI droplet residue and other poorly focused neutral or charged particles with very high mass-to charge ratios. In this study a dual ion funnel interface consisting of an orthogonal higher pressure electrodynamic ion funnel (HPIF) and an ion funnel trap combined with a triple quadruple mass spectrometer was developed and characterized. An orthogonal ion injection inlet and a repeller plate electrode was used to direct ions to an ion funnel HPIF at 9-10 Torr pressure. Several critical factors for the HPIF were characterized, including the effects of RF amplitude, DC gradient and operating pressure. Compared to the triple quadrupole standard interface more than 4-fold improvement in the limit of detection for the direct quantitative MS analysis of low abundance peptides was observed. The sensitivity enhancement in liquid chromatography selected reaction monitoring (SRM) analyses of low abundance peptides spiked into a highly complex mixture was also compared with that obtained using a both commercial s-lens interface and a in-line dual ion funnel interface.