Analytical characteristics of nano-electrospray operated under super-atmospheric pressure

Generation of Ions from Aqueous Taylor Cones near the Minimum Flow Rate: "True Nanoelectrospray" without Narrow Capillary

Generating ultrafine charged droplets using electrospray is crucial for attaining high ionization efficiency for mass spectrometry. The size of the precursor charged droplets depends on the spray flow rate, and conventional wisdom holds that an electrospray of a nL/min flow rate (nanoelectrospray) is only possible using narrow capillaries with an inner diameter of ∼1 μm or smaller. Here, the electrospray of aqueous solutions with high electric conductivities generated from a large off-line capillary of 0.4 mm i.d. has been performed using a high-pressure ion source. The electric discharge is avoided by operating the ion source at 2.5 bar gauge pressure. The highly stable Taylor cone can be tuned to a near-hydrostatic state that exhibits the "true nanoelectrospray" properties, i.e., high salt tolerance and minimal ion suppression. The Q^1/2 scaling law describing the electrospray current I and flow rate Q is found to be valid down to the nanoflow regime under a condition that is free of electric discharge. For a given solution, the flow rate and the size of the initial droplets and ionization species can be controlled with the spray current as the indicator for the instantaneous flow rate without changing the emitter capillary of different sizes. In regard to the application, the nanoelectrospray with a large micropipette tip is easy to use, free of clogging when dealing with viscous and high-salt buffer solutions, and with reduced surface interaction with the emitter inner surface. An acquisition of very clean mass spectra of proteins from concentrated solutions of nonvolatile salts such as phosphate-buffered saline is demonstrated.

High ohmic resistor hyphenated gel loading tip nano-electrospray ionization source for mini mass spectrometer

The deployment of mini mass spectrometers on the field strongly demands efficient ionization sources that are easy-to-operate. Nano-electrospray (nESI) ion source has been widely used in the field of chemistry, biology, medicine, pharmaceutical industry, clinical assessment and forensic science. In this study, a high ohmic resistor hyphenated gel loading tip nESI source was coupled with our home developed mini mass spectrometer. This ionization source has the advantages of simple-in-design, disposable and low-in-cost, therefore it could be frequently used for analysis of aqueous samples without leading to cross contamination. Performances of the gel loading tip nESI emitter were similar to pulled glass capillary, and highly compatible for the analysis of biomolecule in aqueous solution. Different peptide and small molecules have been confirmed with a continuous atmospheric pressure-interfaced (CAPI) mini mass spectrometer. The corona discharge, which was usually observed at nESI emitter tip under high aqueous solvent conditions, resulting in low ion intensity, has been successfully quenched using a 10 GΩ resistor in both a pulled glass capillary and a gel loading tip as nESI emitter in this study. Compared with conventional ESI, the metal wire assisted gel loading tip facilitated loading and direct analysis of biological samples without sample pretreatment.