Electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance at 9.4 T.

We present the first results from a new electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer operated at a magnetic field of 9.4 T (i.e. > or = 2.4 T higher than for any prior FTICR instrument). The 9.4 T instrument provides substantially improved performance for large molecules (> or = 50% increase in mass resolving power) and complex mixtures (> or = 100% increase in dynamic range) compared to lower-field (< or = 6 T) instruments. The higher magnetic field makes possible larger trapped-ion population without introduction of significant space--charge effects such as spectral peak shift and/or distortion, and coalescence of closely-spaced resonances. For bovine ubiquitin (8.6 kDa) we observe accurate relative isotopic abundances at a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 1000:1, whereas a complete nozzle-skimmer dissociation electrospray ionization (ESI) FTICR mass spectrum of bovine carbonic anhydrase (29 kDa) is achieved from a single scan with a signal-to-noise ratio of more than 250:1. Finally, we are able to obtain mass resolving power, m/delta m > 200,000, routinely for porcine serum albumin (67 kDa). The present performance guides further modifications of the instrument, which should lead to significant further improvements.

A high-performance modular data system for Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry.

The three major components of a Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometer include the vacuum system (including ion source), the magnet and a data system capable of performing the necessary instrument control for desired experiments. Most previous FTICR systems have used commercial data systems based on custom-built electronics controlled by proprietary mini-computers developed in the early 1980's. Here we present a high-performance data system based on a personal computer running user-friendly Windows software and readily available commercial components contained in a VXI chassis and a minimal complement of simple custom electronics. The system uses a VXI pattern generator to control all aspects of the experiment. The flexibility of the pattern generator allows for performance of all current FTICR experimental sequences.

Analysis of combinatorial libraries using electrospray Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry.

Electrospray ionization coupled with Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometry has been used to provide information about complete combinatorial libraries of small peptides containing 10(3)-10(4) components. The fidelity of attempted synthesis steps can be ascertained rapidly, and, when the extremely high resolution FTICR mass spectra are combined with appropriate computer simulation, both diversity and degeneracy of the libraries as synthesized can be assessed.

Complete large-molecule high-resolution mass spectra from 50-femtomole microvolume injection.

For electrospray ionization in Fourier-transform mass spectrometry, direct injection of 5×10(-14) mol (0.5 µL of 100 nM from a microvolume sample valve) of ubiquitin (8565 Da) into the flowing solvent stream yields a spectrum with 85:1 signal-to-noise ratio, 2-ppm mass accuracy, and isotopic resolution. Gated trapping for 100 µs from a 0.15-µL/min injection of 20-µM ubiquitin consumes 5×10(-18) mol, which produces a spectrum with 23:1 signal-to-noise ratio and τ;3×10(5) resolving power.

Determination of monoisotopic masses and ion populations for large biomolecules from resolved isotopic distributions.

The coupling of electrospray ionization with Fourier-transform mass spectrometry allows the analysis of large biomolecules with mass-measuring errors of less than 1 ppm. The large number of atoms incorporated in these molecules results in a low probability for the all-monoisotopic species. This produces the potential to misassign the number of heavy isotopes in a specific peak and make a mass error of ±1 Da, although the certainty of the measurement beyond the decimal place is greater than 0.1 Da. Statistical tests are used to compare the measured isotopic distribution with the distribution for a model molecule of the same average molecular mass, which allows the assignment of the monoisotopic mass, even in cases where the monoisotopic peak is absent from the spectrum. The statistical test produces error levels that are inversely proportional to the number of molecules in a distribution, which allows an estimation of the number of ions in the trapped ion cell. It has been determined, via this method that 128 charges are required to produce a signal-to-noise ratio of 3:1, which correlates well with previous experimental methods.

Automated assignment of charge states from resolved isotopic peaks for multiply charged ions.

The recent proliferation of electrospray as an ionization method has greatly increased the ability to perform analyses of large biomolecules by using mass spectrometry. The major advantage of electrospray is the ability to produce multiply charged ions, which brings large molecules down to a mass-to-charge ratio range amenable to most instruments. Multiple charging is also a disadvantage because mass (m) becomes ambiguous unless charge (z) can be assigned. This is typically performed with simple algorithms that use multiple peaks of the same m and different z, but these methods are difficult to apply to complex mixtures and not applicable when only one z appears for each m. The use of mass analyzers with higher resolving powers, like the Fourier transform mass spectrometer, allows resolution of isotopic peaks, providing an internal 1-Da mass scale that can be used for unambiguous charge assignment. Manual assignment of charge state from the isotopic peaks is time consuming and becomes inaccurate when either the signal level or resolving power are low. For these cases, computer algorithms based on pattern recognition techniques have been developed to assist in assignment of charge states to isotopic clusters. These routines provide for more rapid analysis with higher accuracy than available manually.

Infrared multiphoton dissociation of large multiply charged ions for biomolecule sequencing.

Characterization and verification of the structures of large biomolecules with high-resolution tandem Fourier transform mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization is critically dependent on the technique used to fragment the multiply charged ions produced. Infrared multiphoton dissociation (IRMPD) of ionized proteins as large as carbonic anhydrase (29 kDa) yields fragment information similar to, but with valuable additions to, that of other dissociation techniques. IRMPD yields product ions on-axis, providing efficient dissociation in further stages; MS3 of ubiquitin (8.6 kDa) yields 11 new sequence ions. Optimum irradiation times for protein ion dissociation vary by more than a factor of 6, with times for oligonucleotides far lower, possibly due to photon resonance with a P-O stretching frequency. IRMPD provides far greater selectivity than collisionally activated dissociation and also appears to yield much less mass discrimination and to dissociate much more stable ions. A technique to remove product ions on formation from the laser beam should improve the present efficiencies of 30-80%.

Collisional activation of large multiply charged ions using Fourier transform mass spectrometry.

For small singly charged ions, Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS) has demonstrated the ability to perform multistage mass spectral experiments (MSn) with high resolution and high mass accuracy using collisionally activated dissociation (CAD). The combination of electrospray ionization (ESI) with the FTMS provides the potential to extend these capabilities for structural characterization of large biomolecules. The standard FTMS-CAD method is problematic in that it is inefficient and produces ions well away from the center of the cell. More efficient collisional methods have been demonstrated for small molecules (sustained off-resonance irradiation (SORI) CAD, very low energy (VLE) CAD, multiple excitation collisional activation (MECA)) that provide the additional benefit of producing product ions closer to the center of the trapped ion cell. The efficiency (> 92%) for producing sequence-informative peaks from large multiply charged ions is far better than standard CAD. Disadvantages, such as blind spots where no product ions are observed, and isotopic distortions which can cause an incorrect mass assignment, must be considered when methods designed for small singly charged ions are applied to large multiply charged ions. SORI provided the highest efficiency, selectivity, and resolving power (9 x 10(5)) for product ion spectra and is recommended for most applications because of its ease of implementation.

High-resolution tandem mass spectrometry of carbonic anhydrase.

Electrospray ionization of carbonic anhydrase with ion dissociation yields a mass spectrum from which the masses of > 100 isotopic clusters are determined accurately, with the number of charges assigned directly from resolved isotopic peaks. Of these clusters, 80% correspond to fragmentation at or near the amino acid proline. The masses of combinations of two, three, and four of these clusters sum to the molecular mass with 0.1-Da accuracy, while further fragment ion dissociation provides additional sequence information. The capability of this methodology to detect sequence variations is illustrated with an isozyme having a single amino acid replacement.

Mass spectrometry in the development of drugs from traditional medicines.

The mass spectrometer ionizes molecules to separate and weigh the resulting molecular ions and their dissociation products. These product masses indicate directly the sequence of constituents of the original molecule, such as amino acids in proteins or bases in nucleotides. Because single ions can be detected, even subfemtomole sensitivities are possible. In tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), molecular ions from a mixture can be separated to isolate ions of a specific component, whose further dissociation can then give structural information on that component. Electrospray ionization and other recently developed methods make possible the ionization of biomolecules even larger than 100 kDa. The Fourier-transfer mass spectrometer has unusual capabilities for measuring ions over a 100 kDa mass range simultaneously at unit resolution for MS/MS applications utilizing subfemtomole sample quantities.

Coexisting stable conformations of gaseous protein ions.

For further insight into the role of solvent in protein conformer stabilization, the structural and dynamic properties of protein ions in vacuo have been probed by hydrogen-deuterium exchange in a Fourier-transform mass spectrometer. Multiply charged ions generated by electrospray ionization of five proteins show exchange reactions with 2H2O at 10(-7) torr (1 torr = 133.3 Pa) exhibiting pseudo-first-order kinetics. Gas-phase compactness of the S-S cross-linked RNase A relative to denatured S-derivatized RNase A is indicated by exchange of 35 and 135 hydrogen atoms, respectively. For pure cytochrome c ions, the existence of at least three distinct gaseous conformers is indicated by the substantially different values--52, 113, and 74--of reactive H atoms; the observation of these same values for ions of a number--2, 7, and 5, respectively--of different charge states indicates conformational insensitivity to coulombic forces. For each of these conformers, the compactness in vacuo indicated by these values corresponds directly to that of a known conformer structure in the solution from which the conformer ions are produced by electrospray. S-derivatized RNase A ions also exist as at least two gaseous conformers exchanging 50-140 H atoms. Gaseous conformer ions are isometrically stable for hours; removal of solvent greatly increases conformational rigidity. More specific ion-molecule reactions could provide further details of conformer structures.

Mass and charge assignment for electrospray ions by cation adduction.

The assignment of the mass (m) value from the m/z value for ions with a multiple number of charges (z) in electrospray mass spectra usually utilizes multiple peaks of the same m but different z values, or unit-mass-separated isotopic peaks of the same z value from high resolution spectra. The latter approach is also feasible with much less resolving power using adduct ions of much higher mass separation. The application of this to mixture spectra containing many masses, such as spectra from tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) ion dissociation, does not appear to have been pointed out previously. Thus, replacing two protons by one Cu(2+) ion increases the mass by 61.5 Da, with this shift providing a mass scale for assignment of m and z from this pair of m/z values. The more common Na(+) adduct peaks provide a 22.0 Da separation, of utility for 1000 resolving power only below approximately 10 kDa. Further, collisional dissociation lowers the degree of Cu(2+) adduction in the resulting sequence-specific fragment ions much less than that of the corresponding Na(+) adducts, making the Cu(2+) adducts far more useful for m and z determination in MS/MS studies.

Fourier-transform electrospray instrumentation for tandem high-resolution mass spectrometry of large molecules.

Department of Chemistry, Baker Laboratory, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA Mass spectrometry instrumentation providing unit resolution and lo-ppm mass accuracy for molecules larger than 10 kDa was first reported in 1991. This instrumentation has now been improved with a 6.2-T magnet replacing that of 2.8 T, a more efficient vacuum system, ion injection with controlled ion kinetic energies, accumulated ion trapping with an open-cylindrical ion cell, acquisition of 2M data points, and updated electrospray apparatus. The resulting capabilities include resolving power of 5 × 10(5) for a 29-kDa protein, less than l-ppm mass measuring error, and dissociation of protein molecular ions to produce dozens of fragment ions whose exact masses can be identified from their mass-to-charge ratio values and isotopic peak spacing.

Improved fourier-transform ion-cyclotron-resonance mass spectrometry of large biomolecules.

Initial results from a Fourier-transform mass spectrometer with a 6.2 Tesla magnet using electrospray ionization show substantial improvements in resolution, mass accuracy, mass range, signal/noise, and tandem mass spectromehy capabilities compared to our earlier 2.8 T instrument that demonstrated the first unit resolution mass spectra of molecules as large as myoglobin (17 kDa). The new instrument exhibits greater than 10(6) and 10(5) resolving power for 8.6 and 29 kDa, respectively, proteins. Using an internal standard, the mass measuring error for myoglobin is less than 1 ppm. Nozzle-skimmer dissociation during electrospray of carbonic anhydrase (29 kDa) has yielded 38 fragment ions for which both mass and charge are identifiable; of these, 21 have been assigned to expected oligopeptide fragments.

High-resolution tandem mass spectrometry of large biomolecules.

Unit-resolution mass spectra have been obtained for peptides as large as 17 kDa, providing information on impurities and adduct ions, as well as accurate molecular weight values. Electrospray ionization produces many multiply-charged species of the same mass; isotopic peak resolution provides direct charge state assignment from the unit mass spacing of the isotopes. This is of special value when the spectrum also has many masses, such as from precursor ion dissociation or impurities. Mass measuring errors not only are concomitantly lower (less than 0.1 Da) than when the isotopic peaks are unresolved but also are independent of variations in 13C/12C natural isotopic abundances. Also, larger errors are avoided that occur when the measured peak envelope includes impurity or adduct ions. This also benefits tandem mass spectrometry; dissociation of peptide ions as large as 8.5 kDa yields fragment masses consistent (less than 0.1 Da) with their amino acid sequences.