POLYMER TRACK MEMBRANES FOR ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE FIELD EXTRACTION OF IONS FROM LIQUID SOLUTIONS

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Physical Chemistry
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Generating gas-phase ions from liquid solutions is crucial for mass spectrometry.
• Existing methods often require complex sample preparation or harsh conditions.
• A need exists for efficient and direct ion generation interfaces.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate a new method for gas-phase ion generation using field extraction from liquid solutions.
• To characterize the performance of a polymer membrane with nano-channels as an interface.
• To demonstrate the applicability of this method for analyzing biomolecules.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a polymer membrane with nano-size channels as a liquid-gas interface.
• Producing ions via dissociation and ion-molecular reactions within the membrane channels.
• Employing pulsed electric discharge for field extraction of ions.
• Detecting gas-phase ions using mass spectrometry.
• Analyzing biomolecules such as angiotensin II, gramicidin S, and cytochrome C.

Main Results:

• Successfully generated gas-phase ions from liquid solutions using the membrane interface.
• Demonstrated the capability of the method for analyzing peptide and protein ions.
• Investigated the current kinetics to understand the ion extraction mechanism.

Conclusions:

• The polymer membrane interface with nano-channels is a viable approach for gas-phase ion generation.
• The field extraction method is effective for transferring ions from liquid to gas phase.
• This technique offers a promising new avenue for direct analysis of biomolecules by mass spectrometry.