Vapor Treatment of Charged Droplets for Enhanced Electrospray Ionization Performance

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Prof. Scott McLuckey at Purdue University is supported by the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program for investigations aimed at expanding analytical capabilities of mass spectrometry via novel approaches to gas-phase ion formation and transformation. Mass spectrometry is a powerful means of characterizing the mass and structure of gaseous ions. Dr. McLuckey is exploring novel approaches for generating gaseous ions based on exposing charged droplets and/or clusters to reactive vapors. Altering the chemical environment in charged droplets can have dramatic effects on the observed mass spectra, with respect both to ionization efficiency and ion-type. This work will add to the range of options available to manipulate analyte species for subsequent mass spectrometric analysis because it represents an approach that is intermediate between the bulk condensed-phase and the gas-phase. This work has significant potential for expanding and improving the performance and applicability of mass spectrometry. The work is highly multi-disciplinary, and exposes students to ion physics, ion chemistry, instrumentation, and analytical chemistry, in addition to issues specific to the measurement challenge (e.g., pharmaceutical analysis, biomarker detection, protein interaction research, etc.).