Nanospray ionization is a soft ionization technique for mass spectrometry that is widely applied to determine the molecular weight of biological macromolecules. Currently, common ESI emitters possess orifice diameters of 50-100 �m, and nanospray emitters have diameters as low as 1-2 �m. Work presented here demonstrates for the first time the feasibility of performing electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) from capillaries pulled to orifice diameters less than 100 nanometers. Smaller nanospray orifice dimensions lower flow rates and can increase the charge/droplet ratios, and thereby ionization efficiencies. Our results demonstrate that using nanopipettes as nanospray ionization emitters is a promising new approach for ultra-trace biological mass spectrometry.

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry from nanopipette emitters

246th National Meeting (2013)

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