Direct Injection Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (ESI‐MS) Analysis of Proteins with High Matrix Content:Utilizing Taylor–Aris Dispersion

Abstract

This is the first work demonstrating the utility of the Taylor‐Aris (TA) dispersion in avoiding serious interference issues commonly occurring in the electrospray ionization‐mass spectrometric (ESI‐MS) determination of therapeutic protein pharmaceuticals undergoing no pre‐separation or sample purification. It was also pointed out that the TA dispersion conditions and its analytical utilization for proteomics can be easily accomplished in a commercial CE‐MS instrument. In the proposed Taylor‐Aris dispersion‐assisted mass spectrometry (TADA‐MS) analysis 0.5 µL sample is injected into a 65 cm long 50 µm i.d. capillary and pumped with 1 bar toward the MS. The procedure is efficient for the direct injection analysis of components having low diffusion coefficients (proteins) that are present in complex matrices of small organic and inorganic compounds.