Mass Spectrometry & Purification Techniques
Open Access

Mass Spectroscopy Journals

Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that measures the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. The results are typically presented as a spectrum , a plot of intensity as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. Mass spectrometry is employed in many various fields and is applied to pure samples also as complex mixtures. A spectrum may be a plot of the ion signal as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. These spectra are wont to determine the basic or isotopic signature of a sample, the masses of particles and of molecules, and to elucidate the chemical identity or structure of molecules and other chemical compounds. during a typical MS procedure, a sample, which can be solid, liquid, or gaseous, is ionized, for instance by bombarding it with electrons. this might cause a number of the sample's molecules to interrupt into charged fragments or just become charged without fragmenting. These ions are then separated consistent with their mass-to-charge ratio, for instance by accelerating them and subjecting them to an electrical or magnetic field: ions of an equivalent mass-to-charge ratio will undergo an equivalent amount of deflection. The ions are detected by a mechanism capable of detecting charged particles, like an tube . Results are displayed as spectra of the signal intensity of detected ions as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. The atoms or molecules within the sample are often identified by correlating known masses (e.g. a whole molecule) to the identified masses or through a characteristic fragmentation pattern.