Energy-Resolved Ion Mobility Spectrometry: Composite Breakdown Curves for Distinguishing Isomeric Product Ions

Identification of lipopeptides (LpAA) synthesized from bacteria involves the study of structural characterization. Twenty LpAA have been characterized using commercial tandem high-resolution mass spectrometers in negative electrospray, employing nonresonant excitation in "RF only" collision cells and generally behave identically. However, [LpAA-H]- (AA = Asp or Glu) shows surprising fragmentation pathways, yielding a complementary fatty acid carboxylate and dehydrated amino acid fragment anions. In this study, the dissociation mechanisms of [C12Glu-H]- were determinate using energy-resolved mass spectrometry (ERMS). Product ion breakdown profiles are, generally, unimodal with full width at half-maximum (fwhm) increasing as product ion m/z ratios decrease, except for the two product ions of interest (fatty acid carboxylate and dehydrated glutamate) characterized by broad and composite profiles. Such behavior was already shown for other ions using a custom-built guided ion beam mass spectrometer. In this study, we investigate the meaning of these particular profiles from an ERMS breakdown, using fragmentation mechanisms depending on the collision energy. ERMS on line with ion mobility spectrometry (IMS), here called ER-IMS, provides a way to probe such questions. Broad or composite profiles imply that the corresponding product ions may be generated by two (or more) pathways, resulting in common or isomeric product ion structures. ER-IMS analysis indicates that the fatty acid carboxylate product ion is produced with a common structure through different pathways, while dehydrated glutamate has two isomeric forms depending on the mechanism involved. Drift time values correlate with the calculated collision cross section that confirms the product ion structures and fragmentation mechanisms.