The influence of charge on the thermal dissociation of gaseous, protonated, homodimeric, protein ecotin ions produced by nanoflow electrospray ionization (nanoES) was investigated using the blackbody infrared radiative dissociation technique. Dissociation of the protonated dimer, (E 2 ϩ nH) nϩ § E 2 nϩ where n ϭ 14 -17, into pairs of monomer ions is the dominant reaction at temperatures from 126 to 175°C. The monomer pair corresponding to the most symmetric charge distribution is preferred, although 50 -60% of the monomer product ions correspond to an asymmetric partitioning of charge. The relative abundance of the different monomer ion pairs produced from E 2 14ϩ , E 2 15ϩ , and E 2 16ϩ depends on reaction time, with the more symmetric charge distribution pair dominating at longer times. The relative yield of monomer ions observed late in the reaction is independent of temperature indicating that proton transfer between the monomers does not occur during dissociation and that the different monomer ion pairs are formed from dimer ions which differ in the distribution of charge between the monomers. For E 2 17ϩ , the yield of monomer ions is independent of reaction time but does exhibit slight temperature dependence, with higher temperatures favoring the monomers corresponding to most symmetric charge distribution. The charge distribution in the E 2 15ϩ and E 2 16ϩ dimer ions influences the dissociation kinetics, with the more asymmetric distribution resulting in greater reactivity. In contrast, the charge distribution has no measurable effect on the dissociation kinetics and energetics of the E 2 17ϩ dimer. (J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 2002, 13, 1432-1442) © 2002 American Society for Mass Spectrometry P rotein complexes composed of two or more subunits are believed to constitute the bulk of soluble and membrane-bound proteins [1,2]. While the importance of protein assemblies in cellular function is well recognized, their structural characterization remains a significant analytical challenge. Mass spectrometry (MS), with its speed, sensitivity, and accurate mass capability holds tremendous potential as a tool for characterizing protein assemblies [3]. The use of multiple stages of MS with ion activation/dissociation (MS n ) to dissect gaseous assemblies into their constituent subunits represents an attractive, yet unproven, strategy for determining subunit composition and topology. In recent years, a number of MS n studies of gaseous protein dimers [4,5], tetramers [6], and pentamers [7] have been reported. Homo-and heterodimers are readily decomposed into their individual subunits, most generally by collision-induced dissociation (CID). An interesting feature of the dissociation behavior of the protein-protein complexes is the tendency for uneven sharing of charge between subunits, even in the case of homodimers. For example, the decomposition of four homodimers (human galectin I, E. coli glyoxalase I, horse heart cytochrome c, and hen egg lysozyme) yields a highly asymmetric charge distribution, with one of the subu...