Optimization of a Coaxial Continuous Flow Fast Atom Bombardment Interface between Capillary Liquid Chromatography and Magnetic Sector Mass Spectrometry for the Analysis of Biomolecules

The performance of a coaxial continuous flow fast atom bombardment (FAB) probe designed to interface both open tubular (10 μm l.d.) and packed microcapillary (50 μm i.d.) liquid chromatography with magnetic sector mass spectrometry is described. This coaxial “column within a column” Interface uses two fused silica capillary columns to independently deliver the LC effluent and the FAB matrix to the FAB probe tip, and thus it allows the independent optimization of both the composition and flow rates of the two liquid streams. The goal of this work is to bring to FAB-MS the advantages of high-resolution capillary liquid chromatography, which include superior chromatographic separation efficiency, nanoliter per minute mobile phase flow rates, and the ability to analyze very small samples (typically 0.05 to 10 nL/injection). This probe has been successfully used to acquire on-the-fly (i.e. in chromatographic real time) full scan mass spectra from a variety of analyte classes, including peptides, steroids, phospholipids, and carbohydrates. By use of the tripeptide Met-Leu-Phe, detection limits have been obtained of 500 amol using the multichannel data acquisition mode and 1.8 fmol using the peak centroid data acquisition mode. © 1989, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.

Duke Scholars

Author Martin Arthur Moseley III Cell Biology