Dual electrospray ion source for electron-transfer dissociation on a hybrid linear ion trap-orbitrap mass spectrometer.

A dual electrospray ionization source (ESI) has been modified to simultaneously produce cations and anions, one from each emitter, for performing rapid electron-transfer dissociation (ETD) ion/ion reactions on a hybrid linear ion trap-orbitrap mass spectrometer. Unlike the pulsed dual ESI sources that were used to generate ETD reagent ions, this source separates the emitters in space, rather than time, by physically switching which one is in front of the atmospheric inlet. The new arrangement allows for substantially enhanced spray stability and decreased switching times (<or=30 ms), allowing for more tandem-MS spectra per unit time. Herein, we demonstrate the stability of the ETD anion population and the ability to identify several c- and z-type product ions from multiply protonated peptide cations.