Collision-induced signal enhancement: a method to increase product ion intensities in MS/MS and MSn experiments

Collision-induced signal enhancement (CISE), a new technique to enhance the MSn capabilities of the quadrupole ion trap, is demonstrated. CISE is based on the chemistry, i.e., the dissociation pathways, of the analyte examined. Polysaccharides up to hexamers are used to demonstrate the capabilities of CISE to enhance signal in two distinct functional modes. Mode 1 CISE is designed to enhance the signal of an ion desired for MSn analysis. Mode 2 CISE is designed to enhance structurally significant product ions in an MS/MS spectrum. Two different approaches can be utilized to effect the two functional modes of CISE. Both approaches use conventional resonant excitation techniques to effect dissociation, which is performed nonanalytically, i.e., without isolation of the ions to be dissociated. The two approaches are (1) single-frequency resonance excitation, and (2) broad-band wave form resonant excitation. Experimental results for Mode 1 CISE analysis demonstrate up to a 17.3-fold signal increase for the single-frequency approach and 5.3-fold using broad-band excitation. Mode 2 CISE analysis shows up to a 16.3-fold increase in signal strength with single-frequency excitation and 3.3-fold using broad-band excitation.