Mass Spectrometry

Learning Objectives
At the end of this topic students will be able to;
• Discuss the principle of mass spectrometry
• State the components of a mass spectrometer
and relate the purpose of each component
• Describe the clinical application of mass
spectrometry
 Chapter Outline
 Basic concepts and Definitions
 Instrumentation principle
 Clinical Application
 Basic Concepts and Definitions
• Mass Spectrometry (MS) is a powerful qualitative
and quantitative analytical technique that is used to
measure a wide range of clinically relevant analytes.
• Mass spectrometer is an analytical instrument that
first ionizes a target molecule and then separates
and measures the mass of a molecule or its
fragments.
• Mass analysis is the process by which a mixture of
ionic species is identified according to the mass-to-
charge (m/z) ratios (ions).
Basic Concepts and Definitions, Cont’d…
• A mass spectrum is represented by the relative
abundance of each ion plotted as a function of its
m/z ratio.
• Usually, each ion has a single charge (z = 1); thus the
m/z ratio is equal to the mass.
• The unfragmented ion of the original molecule is
called the molecular ion.
Basic Concepts and Definitions, Cont’d…
• The ion with the highest abundance in the mass
spectrum is assigned a relative value of 100% and is
called the base peak.
• Fragmentation patterns often are represented by
vertical dashed lines to indicates sites of bond
cleavage, and horizontal lines to indicate the
fragment that retains the charge.
Basic Concepts and Definitions, Cont’d…
• Because the fragmentation of ions at specific bonds
depends on their chemical nature, it is possible to
determine the structure of an analyte from its mass
spectrum.
• Mass spectrometers are also used to simultaneously
differentiate and quantify a compound with a normal
abundance of isotope from an analog enriched with
a stable isotope
– (e.g., 1H relative to 2H, 13C relative to 12C, 15N relative to 14N, or 18O
relative to 160 ).
 Basic Concepts, Cont’d…
• For analysis, a compound labeled with a stable
isotope is used as an internal standard because it
behaves nearly identically to the native compound
during sample preparation and chromatographic
analysis.
• The ability to quantify a compound relative to an
isotopic species of known or fixed concentration is
known as isotope dilution analysis, and the specific
mass spectrometric technique is known as isotope
dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS).
 Block diagram of MS
Sample port or Where a micro amount of sample is introduced
Inlet system into the system (ion source)

where the components of the sample are

converted into gaseous ions by bombardment
Ion source with electrons, photons, ions or molecules
It is where ions are sorted and separated
according to their mass and charge. The mass
analyzer is an analogous to the monochromator
Mass analyzer in optical spectrometry.
Monochromator: dispersion based on wavelength
of photons.
Mass analyzer: dispersion based on the mass-to-
charge ratio of analyte ions.

Detector The beam of ions passing through the machine is

detected electrically.

Where detected analytes are analyzed or

Data analysis processed
MS Instrument
 Instrumentation
• A mass spectrometer (MS) consists of an
– ion source
– mass analyzer
– detector
 Ion Source

• All MS techniques require an ionization step in which

an ion is produced from a neutral atom or molecule.
• Ionization techniques
– Electron impact ionization (EI)
– Chemical ionization (CI)
– Electrospray ionization (ESI)
– Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization
(MALDI)