Fragmentation characteristic of glutathione conjugates activated by high-energy collisions.

Product ion spectra of fifteen monoglutathione and diglutathione conjugates have been measured using activation by 6000-eV collisions with helium in the third field-free region of a four-sector tandem mass spectrometer of EBEB configuration. Fragmentation patterns in the cation spectra have been analyzed for decompositions of the glutathione moiety that would permit recognition of an unknown as a glutathione conjugate. Five spectra from an earlier study of high-energy collisional activation on a BEEB four-sector instrument have also been included in this analysis. A suite of appropriate ions was found to occur consistently,, including ions of m/z 307 comprising the glutathione tripeptide and the complementary ion [MH-307](+) or the ion radical [MH-306](+).