Eur. Phys. J. D (2016) 70: 125
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2016-70108-7

Regular Article

Design and performance of an instrument for electron impact tandem mass spectrometry and action spectroscopy of mass/charge selected macromolecular ions stored in RF ion trap^*

¹ Institute of Physics Belgrade, University of Belgrade, Pregrevica 118, 11080 Belgrade, Serbia
² SOLEIL, l’Orme des Merisiers, St Aubin, BP48, 91192 Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France
³ INRA, UAR1008, CEPIA, Rue de la Géraudière, BP 71627, 44316 Nantes, France
⁴ Radiation Laboratory, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA

^a e-mail: aleksandar.milosavljevic@synchrotron-soleil.fr

Received: 16 February 2016
Received in final form: 23 April 2016
Published online: 2 June 2016

Abstract

A new apparatus was designed, coupling an electron gun with a linear quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer, to perform m/z (mass over charge) selected ion activation by electron impact for tandem mass spectrometry and action spectroscopy. We present in detail electron tracing simulations of a 300 eV electron beam inside the ion trap, design of the mechanical parts, electron optics and electronic circuits used in the experiment. We also report examples of electron impact activation tandem mass spectra for Ubiquitin protein, Substance P and Melittin peptides, at incident electron energies in the range from 280 eV to 300 eV.