Collision energy effects on the collision-induced dissociation of multiply charged melittin.

The fragmentation of the melittin 4+ ion has been studied over a range of collision energies from 28 eV to 12 keV in a four-sector mass spectrometer. Patterns of fragmentation and energy conversion were found to be analogous to those observed for singly charged peptides. High numbers of collisions were not required for activation at low energies.