Temperature-Controlled Electrospray Ionization: Recent Progress and Applications.

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Biochemistry
• Physical Chemistry

Background:

• Native electrospray ionization (ESI) and nanoelectrospray ionization (nESI) are soft ionization techniques used in mass spectrometry (MS) for analyzing intact biomolecules and complexes.
• These methods provide a snapshot of biomolecular structure in solution, complementing other analytical techniques.
• Understanding biomolecular thermodynamics and structure is crucial in various scientific disciplines.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the development of temperature-controlled native ESI and nESI sources for mass spectrometry.
• To highlight the utility of these techniques in elucidating analyte thermodynamics.
• To showcase the structural information obtainable through temperature-controlled MS that is difficult to acquire otherwise.

Main Methods:

• Review of literature on temperature-controlled electrospray ionization (ESI) and nanoelectrospray ionization (nESI) sources.
• Analysis of mass spectrometry data generated using these controlled temperature techniques.
• Discussion of the principles behind temperature control in soft ionization MS.

Main Results:

• Several nESI and ESI sources with controllable spray solution temperature have been developed over the past three decades.
• Temperature control enables the investigation of biomolecular thermodynamics.
• These methods provide unique structural insights into biomolecules and their complexes.

Conclusions:

• Temperature-controlled mass spectrometry using native ESI and nESI is a valuable tool for biomolecular analysis.
• The field has seen significant development in source technology over the last 30 years.
• These techniques offer complementary structural and thermodynamic data not easily obtained by conventional methods.