title: Tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry.
abstract: A new tandem time-of-flight (TOF-TOF) instrument has been developed by modifying a standard matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI)-TOF instrument to make high-performance, high-energy collision-induced dissociation (CID) MALDI tandem mass spectrometry (MS) a practical reality. To optimize fragment spectra quality, the selected precursor ion is decelerated before entering a floating collision cell and the potential difference between the source and the collision cell defines the collision energy of the ions. Standard operating conditions for tandem MS use a 1-kV collision energy with single-collision conditions and increased laser power for ion formation. Hence, both high- and low-energy fragments are observed in MALDI TOF-TOF spectra. On standard peptides, sensitivities down to 1 fmol are demonstrated. On a mixture of two solution tryptic digests at the 25-fmol level, 23 spectra were sufficient to result in proper database identification.
authors.affiliation: Applied Biosystems, Framingham, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Marvin L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Vestal
authors.forename: Jennifer M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Campbell
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides