Hadamard transform time-of-flight mass spectrometry: a high-speed detector for capillary-format separations.

Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, California 94305-5080, USA.

This work demonstrates that with an intrinsic duty cycle of 50% and spectral storage speeds up to 277 spectra s(-1) Hadamard transform time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HT-TOFMS) is a promising detector for any capillary-format separation that can be coupled to MS by electrospray ionization. Complete resolution of the components of a nine-peptide standard was achieved by coupling pressurized-capillary electrophoresis (pCE) to HT-TOFMS. The addition of pressure to the separation capillary decreased analysis times and stabilized the electrospray ionization source. Pulsed-pressurized injection of reserpine was used to experimentally simulate narrower peaks than those obtained in the pCE. HT-TOFMS was able to sample peaks having widths in the millisecond range.

PMID: 12033252 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]