title: Quantitative comparison of a flared and a standard heated metal capillary inlet with a voltage-assisted air amplifier on an electrospray ionization linear ion trap mass spectrometer.
abstract: The performance characteristics (i.e., ion abundance and electrospray ion current) of a flared and blunt-ended heated metal capillary were evaluated with a voltage-assisted air amplifier on a linear ion trap mass spectrometer (LTQ-MS). The results demonstrated that a standard capillary afforded higher ion abundance than a flared capillary, thus further work is necessary to investigate conditions for which significant benefits with the flared capillary will be observed. The compatibility of a voltage-assisted air amplifier is explored for both types of capillaries and in all cases resulted in improved ion abundance and spray current.
authors.affiliation: W. M. Keck FT-ICR Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
authors.forename: R Brent
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Dixon
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Muddiman
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D000669:Amplifiers, Electronic; D002197:Capillary Action; D055590:Electromagnetic Phenomena / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D017022:Flow Injection Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D005561:Formates / Q000032:analysis*; D006361:Heating / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008555:Melitten / Q000032:analysis*; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D005561:Formates; C030544:formic acid; D008555:Melitten