High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Mass Spectrometry is unique in the type and amount of information that it can often supply on submicrogram samples. Recent advances include improved understanding of the basic factors affecting ion reaction rates, and application of these in metastable and collision-induced decompositions. Utilization of the unusual quantity of information in a high-resolution spectrum is greatly facilitated with on-line computers; identification and interpretation of spectra by computer techniques is faster and often more informative than the human counterpart. Feedback control from the computer makes possible the multiple rescanning of peaks in blank spectral regions, increasing signal quality and quantity dramatically. It appears that the application of a combination of these techniques of high-resolution mass spectrometry will give detailed amino acid sequence information on mixtures of peptides.