Surface Ionization and Soft Landing Techniques in Mass Spectrometry

The advent of soft ionization techniques, notably electrospray and laser desorption ionization methods, has extended mass spectrometric methods to large molecules and molecular complexes. This both greatly expands applications of mass spectrometry and makes the activation and dissociation of complex ions an integral part of large molecule mass spectrometry. A corollary of the much greater number of internal degrees of freedom and high density of states associated with molecular complexity is that internal energies much higher than the dissociation energies for competing fragmentation processes are required for observable fragmentation in time scales sampled by mass spectrometers. This article describes the kinetics of surface-induced dissociation (SID), a particularly efficient activation method for complex ions. Two very important characteristics of SID are very rapid, sub-picosecond activation and precise control of ion internal energy by varying ion collision energy. The nature of the surface plays an important role in SID, determining both efficiency and mechanism of ion activation. Surface composition and morphology strongly influence the relative importance of competing reactions of SID, ion capture (soft-landing), surface reaction and neutralization. The important features of SID and ion soft-landing are described briefly in this review and more fully in the recommended reading list.