title: Renaissance of cation-radicals in mass spectrometry.
abstract: This brief overview addresses the topic that was presented in the Thomson Medal Award session at the 19th International Mass Spectrometry Conference in Kyoto, Japan. Mass spectrometry of cation-radicals has enjoyed a remarkable renaissance thanks to the development of new methods for electron attachment to multiply charged peptide ions. The charge-reduced ions that are odd-electron species exhibit interesting reactivity that is useful for peptide and protein sequencing. The paper briefly reviews the fundamental aspects of the formation, energetics, and backbone dissociations of peptide cation-radicals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Bagley Hall, University of Washington.
authors.forename: František
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tureček
keywords: dissociation mechanisms; electron impact ionization; electron transfer; electrospray; peptide cation-radicals; zwitterions