Charging and supercharging of proteins for mass spectrometry: recent insights into the mechanisms of electrospray ionization

equilibration between the droplets and the protruding chains culminates in highly charged gaseous proteins, analogous to the collision-induced dissociation of multi-protein complexes. (iv) Denatured ESI supercharging also generates protein ions via the CEM. Supercharging agents stabilize protonated sites on the protein tail via charge-dipole interactions, causing the chain to acquire additional charge. There will likely be scenarios that fall outside of these four models, but it appears that the framework outlined here covers most of the experimentally relevant conditions.