Electrosprayed droplet impact/secondary ion mass spectrometry

A new ionization method, electrosprayed droplet impact ionization (EDI), has been developed for mass spectrometry. The charged droplets formed by electrospraying 1 M acetic acid aqueous solution are sampled through an orifice with a diameter of 400 μm into the first vacuum chamber, transported into a quadrupole ion guide and accelerated by 10 kV after exiting the ion guide. The m/z of the primary droplet projectiles range from 10 000 to 50 000. The droplets impact on a dry solid sample deposited on a stainless steel substrate. No matrix was used for the sample preparation. The secondary ions formed by the impact are transported to a second quadrupole ion guide and mass-analyzed by an orthogonal TOF-MS. Intense molecular-related ions are detected for drugs, amino acids, peptides and proteins. EDI is found to be very sensitive to molecules present near the surface of the sample.