Ion Mobility–Mass Spectrometry for Bioanalysis

Abstract

This paper aims to cover the main strategies based on ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) for the analysis of biological samples. The determination of endogenous and exogenous compounds in such samples is important for the understanding of the health status of individuals. For this reason, the development of new approaches that can be complementary to the ones already established (mainly based on liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry) is welcomed. In this regard, ion mobility spectrometry has appeared in the analytical scenario as a powerful technique for the separation and characterization of compounds based on their mobility. IMS has been used in several areas taking advantage of its orthogonality with other analytical separation techniques, such as liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, or supercritical fluid chromatography. Bioanalysis is not one of the areas where IMS has been more extensively applied. However, over the last years, the interest in using this approach for the analysis of biological samples has clearly increased. This paper introduces the reader to the principles controlling the separation in IMS and reviews recent applications using this technique in the field of bioanalysis.

Infrared Laser Ablation Microsampling with a Reflective Objective

“…Efforts have been made to achieve confident identification by incorporating data-dependent acquisition into MSI − and reliable quantification using various signal intensity normalization strategies . Fast gas-phase separation using ion mobility can be used to obtain some additional compound information − but lacks the capabilities of liquid phase processing that are typically used in biological mass spectrometry. Furthermore, off-line analysis allows bottom-up protein sequencing by enzymatic digestion and liquid chromatography, which is one of the most powerful currently available methods for protein quantification and identification. ,,,, …”

An overlapping peaks separation algorithm for ion mobility spectrometry based on second‐order differentiation and dynamic inertia weight particle swarm optimization algorithm

“…Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS), a technique developed early in the past century, has been effectively applied to analyze multicomponent samples such as illicit drugs, 1,2 environmental pollutants, 3,4 explosives, 5,6 and biomolecules. 7,8 Conventional IMS separates gaseous ions by pushing them through a drift tube filled with a nonreactive buffer gas, and a uniform static electric field (E) is established. In that environment, different ion species have certain ion mobility (K) difference, enabling them to be separated and pass through the drift tube with different drift times.…”

Mass Spectrometry Imaging Techniques Enabling Visualization of Lipid Isomers in Biological Tissues

“…In ion mobility spectrometry (IMS), the molecules are separated according to their size, shape, and charge in the gas phase on the time scale of milliseconds, compatible with MSI experiments. Recent developments of IMS brought many techniques with ultrahigh IMS resolving power (≥200), such as drift tube ion mobility spectrometry (DTIMS), traveling wave ion mobility spectrometry (TWIMS), field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS), or trapped ion mobility spectrometry (TIMS). − …”