Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry of Surfactant-Metal Ions Attachment: Sensitivity and in-Source Fragmentation (original) (raw)

Electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI-FTICR-MS) is used to investigate the reaction of non-ionic ethylene oxide based surfactants, with divalent metal ions. The effect of capillary-skimmer potential difference and the ion residence time in the hexapole ion trap in the external ion optic of the FT mass spectrometer were systematically investigated for the single oligomer systems, hexaethylene glycol monodecyl ether (HEGMDE) interacting with the nitrate salts of Cd(II) in methanol. It is observed that these variables impact significantly on the type of ions observed in the ESI experiment and hence the mass spectra and so it is essential to identify their contribution prior to undertaking any binding efficiency experiments. Collision induced dissociation in the capillary skimmer region and by on resonance irradiation is used to investigate structures and fragmentation pathways. In particular the loss of HNO3 in the nitrate salts is a f...