Radical-induced fragmentation of phospholipid cations using metastable atom-activated dissociation mass spectrometry (MAD-MS)

Abstract

The fragmentation pattern of several protonated 1+ phosphatidylcholines (PCs) was studied using low energy collision induced dissociation (CID) and helium metastable atom-activated dissociation (He-MAD). He-MAD of the protonated compounds produced a dominant phosphocholine head group at m/z 184 as well as typical sn-1 and sn-2 glycerol fragments such as [M+H-Rx−1CHCO]+ and [M+H-Rx−1CO2H]+. Within the aliphatic chain, He-MAD showed fragments consistent with high-energy collision induced dissociation (HE-CID) and products/pathways consistent with Penning ionization of the 1+ precursor ions to their respective radical dications. These Penning ionization products included both singly and doubly charged radical fragments, and the fragment ions are related to the number and position of double bonds in the acyl chains. Fragments created through HE-CID-like fragmentation followed classic charge remote fragmentation pathways including ladder-like fragmentation along the acyl chain, except for additional or missing peaks due to predictable rearrangement reactions. He-MAD therefore shows utility in being able to effectively fragment singly charged lipids into a variety of useful product ions using both radical and high-energy processes in the confines of a 3D ion trap.