Fragmentation of Amino Acids and Microsolvated Peptides and Nucleotides using Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry

• Main Author: Johansson, Henrik
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Stockholms universitet, Fysikum 2010
• Subjects: Atomic and molecular physics; Atom- och molekylfysik
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-37202

This thesis presents three different series of high energy (keV) collision experiments as well as a brief scientific introduction to the field. In the first series, protonated glycine and leucine were collided with carbon dioxide and a beam attenuation method was applied to determine their total fragmentation cross sections. A technique was also presented for how to restore the resolution in mass spectra obtained with a hemispherical electrostatic analyzer followed by a position sensitive detector (micro-channel plate equipped with a resistive anode). In the second series of experiments, Collision Induced Dissociation (CID) and Electron Capture Induced Dissociation (ECID) studies were performed on the nucleotide adenosine 5'-monophosphate anion (AMP-) in water complexes.  The two dissociation techniques revealed different fragmentation patterns and a numerical solvent evaporation model was used to interpret the spectra. It was then found that the CID and ECID processes were associated with different internal energy distributions. The third experiment concerned ECID of the protonated dipeptide glycine-alanine ([GA+H]+) in complexes with water, methanol, acetonitrile or crown ether. Depending on the attached molecular species, different ratios between the two competing channels ammonia loss and N-Cα bond cleavage were observed. Quantum chemical calculations revealed that a notable shift in the location of the captured electron occurred for the case of two acetonitriles and one crown ether compared to the bare ion and the ion in complexes with either water or methanol. Finally, this thesis will discuss developments of the electrospray ionization platform as well as the new Double ElectroStatic IonRing ExpEriment (DESIREE) facility.