Multidimensional Separations by Ion Mobility‐Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Ion mobility‐mass spectrometry (IM‐MS) couples gas‐phase structural separations by IM with mass‐to‐charge separations by MS. The utility of this integration of multidimensional separation dimensions is manifold, including (i) high throughput multidimensional separations, (ii) separation of chemical noise, and (iii) rapid information in structural biology. This article introduces the unique advantages of IM‐MS in biological fields ranging from systems biology to structural biology, the context of which is introduced by a historical perspective of key advances accomplished over the last century. Contemporary and emerging technology for performing IM‐MS is presented, and applications using conformational data sets in proteomics, glycomics, and lipidomics are described.

Structural Characterization of Methylenedianiline Regioisomers by Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry, Tandem Mass Spectrometry, and Computational Strategies: I. Electrospray Spectra of 2-Ring Isomers

“…Coupled with molecular modeling studies, CCS data can be used to investigate three-dimensional gas-phase structures. A more detailed explanation of IM-MS methodology as well as potential applications for polymer analysis can be found elsewhere in the literature. − …”

Structural mass spectrometry of tissue extracts to distinguish cancerous and non-cancerous breast diseases

“…In contrast to one dimensional MS analyses, these overlapping isotopic distributions can be easily resolved in the IM dimension as the separation occurs on the basis of size-to-charge, where the general trend is that higher charge state species have shorter drift times owing to greater mobilities at a given electric field strength. 17, 31, 34 This can be seen in Figure 3(a–d), where Figure 3(b) represents the mass spectrum obtained from summing across all drift time as demonstrated with the white dashed lines in Figure 3(a), mimicking a typical one dimensional MS analysis. Creating a user-defined area of drift time- m/z space by combining the vertical white dashed lines and the horizontal blue dashed lines allows the peak inside the blue box to be extracted away from the isobaric interference.…”

“…This process results in a characteristic ion mobility drift time in the range of micro- to milliseconds, which can be used to calculate CCSs and determine coarse structural information. 17 …”