High-capacity ion trap coupled to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer for comprehensive linked scans with no scanning losses

A high-capacity ion trap coupled to a time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer has been developed to carry out comprehensive linked scan analysis of all stored ions in the ion trap. The approach involves a novel tapered geometry high-capacity ion trap that can store more than 106 ions (range 800–4000 m/z) without degrading its performance. Ions are stored and scanned out from the high-capacity ion trap as a function of m/z, collisionally fragmented and analyzed by TOF. Accurate mass analysis is achieved on both the precursor and fragment ions of all species ejected from the ion trap. We demonstrate the approach for comprehensive linked-scan identification of phosphopeptides in mixtures with their corresponding unphosphorylated peptides.

Graphical abstractA high-capacity ion trap coupled to a TOF mass spectrometer has been developed for comprehensive linked scan analysis of all stored ions in the ion trap.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (148 K)Download as PowerPoint slideResearch highlights▶ A high-capacity ion trap (>106 ions) is coupled to a TOF mass spectrometer. ▶ Comprehensive linked scan analysis of all stored ions in the ion trap is achieved. ▶ Accurate mass analysis is achieved for both the precursor and fragment ions. ▶ Comprehensive data set is extracted by a computer algorithm after data acquisition.