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Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Determination of the Gas-phase Acidities of Oligopeptides
Published on: June 24, 2013
Modeling the maximum charge state of arginine-containing Peptide ions formed by electrospray ionization
P D Schnier1, W D Price, E R Williams
1Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Abstract:
A model for the gas-phase proton transfer reactivity of multiply protonated molecules is used to quantitatively account for the maximum charge states of a series of arginine-containing peptide ions measured by Downard and Biemann (Int. J. Mass Spectrom. Ion Processes 1995, 148, 191-202). We find that our calculations account exactly for the maximum charge state for 7 of the 10 peptides and are off by one charge for the remaining 3. These calculations clearly predict the trend in maximum charge states for these peptides and provide further evidence that the maximum charge state of ions formed by electrospray ionization is determined by their gas-phase proton transfer reactivity.
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