New MS/MS options added to mass spectrometer

Two significant features - Electron Capture Dissociation (ECD) and InfraRed MultiPhoton Dissociation (IRMPD) - enable even more powerful analysis for proteomics and pharmaceutical research

Thermo Electron Corporation has added new MS/MS options to its Finnigan LTQT FT mass spectrometer.

Two significant features - Electron Capture Dissociation (ECD) and InfraRed MultiPhoton Dissociation (IRMPD) - enable even more powerful analysis for proteomics and pharmaceutical research, offering additional insight into molecular structures.

Since ECD and IRMPD fragment ions using different mechanisms compared to the widely used Collisional Activation Decomposition (CAD) technique, they yield access to information that may not easily be accessible any other way.

This is especially true for the structure elucidation of larger biomolecules such as proteins.

With this added functionality, the Finnigan LTQ FT is the only mass spectrometer offering the whole range of MS/MS and MSn with all three fragmentation options.

Technically, ECD uses slow electrons from a gated electron gun while IRMPD uses IR laser radiation from a 20W CO2 laser to excite and fragment ions.

Researchers in proteomics, metabolomics and pharmaceutical discovery will benefit from these mechanisms because structure elucidation and identification of compounds not only gets faster, but also more accurate.

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