Detection of microcystins using electrospray ionization high-field asymmetric waveform ion mobility mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry

A combination of electrospray ionization, high-field asymmetric waveform io n mobility spectrometry, and mass spectrometry (ESI-FAIMS/MS) was used to a nalyze standard solutions of microcystins-LR -RR, and -YR. The ability of F AIMS to separate ions in the gas phase reduced the amount of background in the mass spectrum without compromising the absolute signal for these microc ystins, This reduction in background resulted in a ten-fold improvement in the signal-to-background ratio over conventional ESI-RIS. Detection limits, using direct infusion, were determined to be 4, 2, and 1 nM for microcysti ns-LR, -RR, and -YR, respectively. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Lt d.