Recent advances in high‐resolution traveling wave‐based ion mobility separations coupled to mass spectrometry

Abstract

Recently, ion mobility spectrometry‐mass spectrometry (IMS‐MS) has become more readily incorporated into various omics‐based workflows. These growing applications are due to developments in instrumentation within the last decade that have enabled higher‐resolution ion mobility separations. Two such platforms are the cyclic (cIMS) and structures for lossless ion manipulations (SLIM), both of which use traveling wave ion mobility spectrometry (TWIMS). High‐resolution separations achieved with these techniques stem from the drastically increased pathlengths, on the order of 10 s of meters to >1 km, in both cIMS‐MS and SLIM IMS‐MS, respectively. Herein, we highlight recent developments and advances, for the period 2019–2023, in high‐resolution traveling wave‐based IMS‐MS through instrumentation, calibration strategies, hyphenated techniques, and applications. Specifically, we will discuss applications including CCS calculations in multipass IMS‐MS separations, coupling of IMS‐MS with chromatography, imaging, and cryogenic infrared spectroscopy, and isomeric separations of glycans, lipids, and other small metabolites.