title: Chemometric approach to evaluate the parameters affecting electrospray: application of a statistical design of experiments for the study of arginine ionization.
abstract: The effects of different experimental parameters on arginine electrospray ionization have been investigated with response surface modelling design. This chemometric technique allows a study of the effects of selected experimental variables and their interactions on the response of an experiment by performing a limited number of analyses. Six variables were studied: methanol content in the liquid phase, formic acid concentration, electrospray voltage, orifice voltage, mobile phase flow rate, and sheath gas flow rate. Signal abundance and signal-to-noise ratio of the protonated molecule and the protonated dimer were measured from the electrospray mass spectra and these four responses were tested by the design. The factor that exhibits the greatest influence on MH+ abundance is shown to be the liquid flow rate whereas the formation of protonated dimer is mainly controlled by the percentage of methanol in the mobile phase. A strong synergic effect of methanol content and formic acid concentration in the liquid has also been demonstrated in the study of noise level. Moreover, the capabilities of the multicriteria optimization method have been demonstrated through a successful prediction of a set of optimal experimental conditions.
authors.affiliation: JE 2421 TRACES, Universités d'Aix-Marseille I et III, Faculté de Saint-Jérôme, Case 511, 13397 Marseille, France. laurence.charles@univ.u-3mrs.fr
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Charles
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Caloprisco
authors.forename: Salimo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sergent
mesh_terms: D001120:Arginine / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D005561:Formates / Q000737:chemistry; D000432:Methanol / Q000737:chemistry; D012107:Research Design / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D005561:Formates; C030544:formic acid; D001120:Arginine; D000432:Methanol