Calibrant delivery for mass spectrometry.

This article describes a means of sampling ions that are created at a location remote from the primary ion source used for mass spectral analysis. Such a source can be used for delivery of calibrant ions on demand. Calibrant ions are sprayed into an atmospheric pressure chamber, at a position substantially removed from the sampling inlet. A gas flow sweeps the calibrants towards the sampling inlet, and a new means for toggling the second ion beam into the instrument can be achieved with the use of a repelling field established by an electrode in front of the sampling inlet. The physical separation of two or more sources of ions eliminates detrimental interactions due to gas flows or fields. When using a nanoflow electrospray tip as the primary ion source, the potential applied to the tip completely repels calibrant ions and there is no compromise in terms of electrospray performance. When calibrant ions are desired, the potential applied to the nanoflow electrospray tip is lowered for a short period of time to allow calibrant ions to be sampled into the instrument, thus providing a means for external calibration that avoids the typical complications and compromises associated with dual spray sources. It is also possible to simultaneously sample ions from multiple ion beams if necessary for internal mass calibration purposes. This method of transporting additional ion beams to a sampling inlet can also be used with different types of atmospheric pressure sources such as AP MALDI, as well as sources configured to deliver ions of different polarity.