title: Coaxial continuous-flow fast-atom bombardment vs electrospray ionization: a sensitivity comparison on a magnetic sector instrument.
abstract: The performance of an electrospray (ESI) source was evaluated and compared to that of a coaxial continuous-flow fast-atom bombardment source on a magnetic mass spectrometer using ten different peptides over the mass range of 400 to 3500 Da and using a variety of scanning modes. Results show that sensitivities using the two ionization techniques are similar, with limits-of-detection in the attomole to low femtomole range. In addition, proteins can be routinely detected using ESI at femtomole levels. The observance of the noncovalent complex of RNase A and cytidine 2'-monophosphate yields evidence that these complexes can be studied using instruments that operate at high accelerating voltages.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Deterding
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khaledi
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Tomer
mesh_terms: D003568:Cytidine Monophosphate / Q000032:analysis; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D010455:Peptides / Q000032:analysis; D012260:Ribonucleases / Q000032:analysis; D016339:Spectrometry, Mass, Fast Atom Bombardment / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; D012260:Ribonucleases; D003568:Cytidine Monophosphate