Teaching venturi electrospray mass spectrometry with amino acid analysis

Abstract

There is an urgent need to update the ways in which undergraduates learn science technology. In this laboratory experiment, students improved their knowledge of the chemistry used in the analysis of amino acids by mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization using venturi pump (VESI-MS) sample introduction. Amino acid analysis using mass spectrometry is connected to a variety of chemical issues, from macroscopic concepts of solution preparation and the use of average molecular mass (g mol−1) to microscopic concepts of chemistry, such as exact molecular mass (Da), organic functional groups, single mass spectrometry (MS) to identify ions from molecules in solution, and tandem mass spectrometry (MS2) to access structural features of the ions formed. The experiment dealt with solution preparation, physical chemistry concepts involved in VESI, and organic chemistry concepts in ion analysis by MS and MS2 experiments in a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer.