Electrospray Photochemical Oxidation of Proteins

Photooxidation of peptides and proteins by pulsed ultraviolet laser irradiation of an electrospray in the ion source of a mass spectrometer was demonstrated. A 193-nm excimer laser at 1.5-mJ pulse energy was focused with a cylindrical lens at the exit of a nanoelectrospray capillary and ions were sampled into a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer. A solution containing a peptide or protein and hydrogen peroxide was infused into the spray at a flow rate of 1 μL/min using a syringe pump. The laser creates OH radicals directly in the spray which modify biomolecules within the spray droplet. These results indicate that photochemical oxidation of proteins can be initiated directly within electrospray droplets and detected by mass spectrometry.