Coupling trapped ion mobility spectrometry to mass spectrometry: trapped ion mobility spectrometry-time-of-flight mass spectrometry versus trapped ion mobility spectrometry-Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

Lilian V Tose; Paolo Benigni; Dennys Leyva; Abigail Sundberg; César E Ramírez; Mark E Ridgeway; Melvin A Park; Wanderson Romão; Rudolf Jaffé; Francisco Fernandez-Lima

doi:10.1002/rcm.8165

Coupling trapped ion mobility spectrometry to mass spectrometry: trapped ion mobility spectrometry-time-of-flight mass spectrometry versus trapped ion mobility spectrometry-Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom. 2018 Aug 15;32(15):1287-1295. doi: 10.1002/rcm.8165.

Authors

Lilian V Tose¹, Paolo Benigni², Dennys Leyva², Abigail Sundberg², César E Ramírez², Mark E Ridgeway³, Melvin A Park³, Wanderson Romão^{1

4}, Rudolf Jaffé^{2

5}, Francisco Fernandez-Lima^{2

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Federal University of Espírito Santo, Petroleomic and Forensic Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, 29075-910, Vitória, ES, Brazil.
² Florida International University, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Miami, FL, 33199, USA.
³ Bruker Daltonics Inc., Billerica, MA, 01821, USA.
⁴ Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Espírito Santo, 29106-010, Vila Velha, ES, Brazil.
⁵ Florida International University, Southeast Environmental Research Center, Miami, FL, 33199, USA.
⁶ Biomolecular Sciences Institute, Florida International University, Miami, FL, 33199, USA.

PMID: 29756663
DOI: 10.1002/rcm.8165

Abstract

Rationale: There is a need for fast, post-ionization separation during the analysis of complex mixtures. In this study, we evaluate the use of a high-resolution mobility analyzer with high-resolution and ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry for unsupervised molecular feature detection. Goals include the study of the reproducibility of trapped ion mobility spectrometry (TIMS) across platforms, applicability range, and potential challenges during routine analysis.

Methods: A TIMS analyzer was coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF MS) and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) instruments for the analysis of singly charged species in the m/z 150-800 range of a complex mixture (Suwannee River Fulvic Acid Standard). Molecular features were detected using an unsupervised algorithm based on chemical formula and IMS profiles.

Results: TIMS-TOF MS and TIMS-FT-ICR MS analysis provided 4950 and 7760 m/z signals, 1430 and 3050 formulas using the general C_x H_y N_0-3 O_0-19 S_0-1 composition, and 7600 and 22 350 [m/z; chemical formula; K; CCS] features, respectively.

Conclusions: TIMS coupled to TOF MS and FT-ICR MS showed similar performance and high reproducibility. For the analysis of complex mixtures, both platforms were able to capture the major trends and characteristics; however, as the chemical complexity at the level of nominal mass increases with m/z (m/z >300-350), only TIMS-FT-ICR MS was able to report the lower abundance compositional trends.