|
|
||
|
Interpreting
Electrospray Mass Spectra |
||
| -- | ||
| From Gas Phase Ions to Peaks on a Mass Spectrum | ||
| -- | ||
 |
||
|
A population of variably charged ions are generated in the electrospray process. In this example the population will contain peptides that have 1, 2 and 0 sites of protonation. |
||
| - | ||
| - | ||
|
||
| The resulting spectrum contains singly and doubly
charged species. The intensity of the peaks is a reflection of the
population generated in the electrospray process. Some
researchers have used peak abundance information in protein folding studies.
The principles that they apply are; the more tightly folded a protein the more difficult it will be to
protonate and it then follows that as a protein unfolds the peak distribution may
change across a spectrum possibly favoring the more highly charged
species.
Note: The uncharged peptide is not observed because the mass spectrometer can not influence it and thus it never reaches the detector.
|
||
|
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
|
||
|
home
| disclaimer |
||
