Mass spectrometry is an analytic method that employs ionization and mass analysis of compounds in order to determine the mass, formula and structure of the compound being analyzed. A mass analyzer is the component of the mass spectrometer that takes ionized masses and separates them based on charge to mass ratios and outputs them to the detector where they are detected and later converted to a digital output. 3.1: Accelerator Mass Spectroscopy Accelerator Mass Spectroscopy (AMS) is a highly sensitive technique that is useful in isotopic analysis of specific elements in small samples (1mg or less of sample containing 106 atoms or less of the isotope of interest). 3.2: Fragmentation Patterns in Mass Spectra This page looks at how fragmentation patterns are formed when organic molecules are fed into a mass spectrometer, and how you can get information from the mass spectrum. 3.3: GC/MS Combination- Shockwave 3.4: How the Mass Spectrometer Works This page describes how a mass spectrum is produced using a mass spectrometer. 3.5: Introductory Mass Spectrometry 3.5.1: Fragmentation 3.5.2: High Resolution vs Low Resolution 3.5.3: Introduction to Mass Spectrometry 3.5.4: Isotopes- 13C 3.5.5: Isotopes- Br and Cl 3.5.6: Molecular Ions 3.5.7: Molecular Ion and Nitrogen 3.5.8: The Mass Spectrometry Experiment 3.6: MALDI-TOF Proteins and peptides have been characterized by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) or SDS PAGE by generating peptide maps. These peptide maps have been used as fingerprints of protein or as a tool to know the purity of a known protein in a known sample. Mass spectrometry gives a peptide map when proteins are digested with amino end specific, carboxy end specific, or amino acid specific digestive enzymes. 3.7: Mass Spectra A mass spectrometer creates charged particles (ions) from molecules. It then analyzes those ions to provide information about the molecular weight of the compound and its chemical structure. There are many types of mass spectrometers and sample introduction techniques which allow a wide range of analyses. This discussion will focus on mass spectrometry as it's used in the powerful and widely used method of coupling Gas Chromatography (GC) with Mass Spectrometry (MS). 3.7.1: Interpreting a Mass Spectrum 3.7.2: Mass Spectrometry - Fragmentation Patterns 3.7.3: Mass Spectroscopy- Quizzes 3.8: Mass Spectra Interpretation- ALDEHYDES 3.9: Mass Spectrometers (Instrumentation) 3.9.1: Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry 3.9.2: Injection Stage 3.9.3: Mass Analyzers (Mass Spectrometry) 3.10: Mass Spectrometry- Isotope Effects The ability of a mass spectrometer to distinguish different isotopes is one of the reasons why mass spectrometry is a powerful technique. The presence of isotopes gives each fragment a characteristic series of peaks with different intensities. These intensities can be predicted based on the abundance of each isotope in nature, and the relative peak heights can also be used to assist in the deduction of the empirical formula of the molecule being analyzed. 3.11: Organic Compounds Containing Halogen Atoms This page explains how the M+2 peak in a mass spectrum arises from the presence of chlorine or bromine atoms in an organic compound. It also deals briefly with the origin of the M+4 peak in compounds containing two chlorine atoms. 3.12: Selected Ion Monitoring- Shockwave 3.13: The Mass Spectra of Elements This page looks at the information you can get from the mass spectrum of an element. It shows how you can find out the masses and relative abundances of the various isotopes of the element and use that information to calculate the relative atomic mass of the element. It also looks at the problems thrown up by elements with diatomic molecules - like chlorine. 3.14: The Molecular Ion (M⁺) Peak This page explains how to find the relative formula mass (relative molecular mass) of an organic compound from its mass spectrum. It also shows how high resolution mass spectra can be used to find the molecular formula for a compound. 3.15: The M+1 Peak This page explains how the M+1 peak in a mass spectrum can be used to estimate the number of carbon atoms in an organic compound. 3.16: Current Applications of Mass Spectrometry Thumbnail: SIMS mass spectrometer, model IMS 3f. (GNU Free Documentation Licenses; CAMECA Archives).