Novel instrumentation has been developed which allows for the sequential injection and subsequent reaction of oppositely-charged ions generated via electrospray ionization (ESI) in a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer. The instrument uses a DC turning quadrupole to sequentially direct the two ion polarities into the ion trap from ESI sources which are situated 90°from the axial (z) dimension of the trap, and 180°from one another. This arrangement significantly expands the range of ionic reactants amenable to study over previously-used instrumentation. For example, ion/ion reactions of multiply-charged positive ions with multiply-charged negative ions can be studied. Also, reactions of multiply-charged ions with singly-charged ions of opposite polarity that could not be generated by previously used ionization methods, or that could not be efficiently injected through the ion trap ring electrode, can be studied with the new instrument. This capability allows, for example, the charge state manipulation of negatively-charged precursor and product ions derived from proteins and oligonucleotides via proton transfer reactions with singly-charged cations generated by ESI. (J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 2002, 13, 614 -622) © 2002 American Society for Mass Spectrometry G as-phase ion chemistry has come to play important roles in both the chemical and, increasingly, the biological sciences. Tandem mass spectrometry utilizing unimolecular dissociation of gas-phase ions is a primary method for identifying unknown species in complex mixtures [1]; a recent example which is rapidly increasing in significance is the use of gasphase dissociation of proteolytic peptides to identify individual proteins in protein mixtures [2,3]. Ion/ molecule chemistry provides a means to study novel chemical species that may be impossible to generate in solution, and is the primary method by which intrinsic (i.e., free of solvation effects) thermochemical information is obtained [4 -7]. Ion/molecule reactions that have been applied to large, biologically-derived ions such as proteins include hydrogen/deuterium exchange [8 -11] and hydroiodic acid attachment [12][13][14], which can both be used as probes of gas-phase conformation. Ion/ molecule reactions between multiply-protonated ions and strong neutral bases have been studied as a means for reducing ion charge state [15][16][17][18][19][20]. Modification of gas-phase oligonucleotide ions via nucleophilic substitution has also been demonstrated [21]. Less attention has been given to reactions of multiply-charged gasphase ions with ions of opposite polarity, largely because the instrumentation needed to carry out such ion/ion reactions is not readily available. However, it has recently been shown that ion/ion reactions of multiply-charged ions with singly-charged ions of opposite polarity may have important analytical utility. For example, ion/ion proton transfer reactions can be used to simplify ESI mass spectra of complex mixtures by reducing the charge states of the mixture components, thereby mi...