DMSO enhances electrospray response, boosting sensitivity of proteomic experiments
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Updated: May 8, 2026

Quantitative Proteomics Workflow using Multiple Reaction Monitoring Based Detection of Proteins from Human Brain Tissue
Published on: August 28, 2021
Hannes Hahne1, Fiona Pachl, Benjamin Ruprecht
1Chair of Proteomics and Bioanalytics, Center of Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Freising, Germany.
Abstract:
We report that low percentages of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) in liquid chromatography solvents lead to a strong enhancement of electrospray ionization of peptides, improving the sensitivity of protein identification in bottom-up proteomics by up to tenfold. The method can be easily implemented on any LC-MS/MS system without modification to hardware or software and at no additional cost.
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