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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Analyzing Protein Architectures and Protein-Ligand Complexes by Integrative Structural Mass Spectrometry
Published on: October 15, 2018
Uniformity of ionization response of structurally diverse analytes using a chip-based nanoelectrospray ionization
Cornelis E C A Hop1, Yue Chen, Li J Yu
1Pfizer Global Research and Development, Department of Pharmacokinetics, Dynamics and Metabolism, Eastern Point Road, Groton, CT 06340, USA. cornelis.e.hop@pfizer.com
Abstract:
The major drawback of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) for the analysis of mixtures is the non-quantitative nature of these studies. The ionization efficiency of the various components in the mixture (e.g., a compound and its metabolites) can vary greatly and, therefore, relative intensities of signals cannot be related to relative abundance. A chip-based nanoelectrospray ionization source was used to compare the ionization efficiencies of compounds with different physical-chemical characteristics. The data indicate that the ionization efficiencies vary much less with the chip-based device than by LC/MS. This was ascribed to the generation of a much higher electric field around the nozzles, which supplies a large excess of protons to the small droplets and reduces/eliminates the differences in the ionization efficiency for the analytes.
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