Probing Peptide Fragment Ion Structures by Combining Sustained Off-Resonance Collision-Induced Dissociation and Gas-Phase H/D Exchange (SORI-HDX) in Fourier Transform Ion-Cyclotron Resonance (FT-ICR) Instruments

The usefulness of gas-phase H/D exchange is demonstrated to probe heterogeneous fragment and parent ion populations. Singly and multiply protonated peptides/proteins were fragmented by using sustained off-resonance irradiation collision-induced dissociation (SORI-CID). The fragments and the surviving precursor ions then all undergo H/D exchange in the gas-phase with either D(2)O or CD(3)OD under the same experimental conditions. Usually, 10 to 60 s of reaction time is adequate to monitor characteristic differences in the H/D exchange kinetic rates. These differences are then correlated to isomeric ion structures. The SORI-HDX method can be used to rapidly test fragment ion structures and provides useful insights into peptide fragmentation mechanisms. (J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 2008, 19, 1771-1775) (c) 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Society for Mass Spectrometry