Structural analysis of ionised molecules
AssigneeThermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GmbH
InventorsAlexander A. MAKAROV, Anatoly VERENCHIKOV
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ion mobility spectrometry method is described comprising: providing a sample; generating molecular ions from the sample; separating the molecular ions according to their mobility characteristics; fragmenting at least some of the separated molecular ions to form sub-molecular fragment ions in a fragmentation zone; separating at least some of the fragment ions according to their mobility characteristics; wherein the separation and fragmentation steps are performed at a pressure of at least 50 mbar; detecting at least some of the separated fragment ions; and identifying at least one molecular ion based on its mobility characteristics and/or the mobility characteristics of at least one detected fragment ion.
Claims20
A method for mass spectrometry or ion mobility spectrometry, the method comprising:
- generating molecular ions from a sample;
- transmitting the molecular ions through the fragmentation zone;
- adjusting gas conditions within the fragmentation zone in a pulsed manner such that:
- at a first time, at least some of the molecular ions are thermally fragmented in the fragmentation zone to form sub-molecular fragment ions using a heated gas, and
- at a second time, a cooler gas is mixed with the heated gas to sufficiently reduce the gas temperature such that fragmentation of the molecular ions does not occur;
- and
- detecting at least some of the sub-molecular fragment ions.
A spectrometer, comprising:
- an ion source for receiving a sample and generating molecular ions from the sample;
- a fragmentation zone for fragmenting at least some of the molecular ions, the fragmentation zone including:
- a first gas stream to provide heated gas to thermally fragment the molecular ions to form sub-molecular fragment ions, a second gas stream to provide cooler gas configured to mix with the heated gas to sufficiently reduce the gas temperature such that fragmentation of the molecular ions does not occur, and
- one or more pulsed valves to change the temperature in the fragmentation zone;
- and
- a detector for detecting at least some of the fragment ions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.