PNNL

Abstract

Mass spectrometry is a versatile technique for identification and structural characterization of large molecules. The advent of soft ionization techniques such as electrospray (ESI) (1-2) has enabled ionization of a wide variety of complex molecules without significant \fragmentation while non-thermal ion sources such as laser vaporization (3-4) and magnetron sputtering (5-6) have provided access to materials that cannot, currently, be produced through conventional techniques. Most mass spectrometry studies rely on ionization of a molecule of interest or a complex mixture followed by mass analysis. Alternatively, mass spectrometry may be used as a preparatory technique, in which mass-selected ions are deposited onto solid supports or into liquid materials (7-18). Preparatory mass spectrometry offers several unique advantages for deposition of complex molecules on substrates including the ability to generate high-purity uniform films (19-20), unprecedented selectivity and specificity of preparation of deposited species (11, 21-22), the ability to focus and pattern an ion beam (23-24), and flexibility in both ion formation (1, 3, 25-26) and mass selection (27-32) processes. This review will highlight applications of mass-selected deposition of complex molecules for selective immobilization of biological molecules and catalytically active complexes on substrates.