AMOLF-PNNL Collaboration Makes Cover of Analytical Chemistry

The cover of the December issue of Analytical Chemistry features the manuscript “C60 Secondary Ion Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry” by current AMOLF Post-doc Don Smith.

The manuscript is a result of a partnership between the Biomolecular Imaging Mass Spectrometry group of Ron Heeren at AMOLF and the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, WA, USA.  The collaboration focuses on the development of mass spectrometry imaging using FT-ICR MS, the highest performance mass spectrometer.      
The manuscript features the development of a platform for high mass resolution and high spatial resolution MS imaging.  By bombarding the surface with a beam of C60  ions (buckminsterfullerene), surface molecules are ionized and are detected with high mass accuracy and high mass resolution.  Compared to matrix enhanced laser desorption ionization (MALDI), where the laser beam spot size defines the image spatial resolution and is diffraction limited, the C60 beam can be easily focused to sub-micrometer spot sizes.  Results include mass accuracies and mass resolving power 10X higher than previously reported for SIMS and represents a step towards an instrumental platform for high spatial resolution and high mass resolution chemical imaging.

Donald F. Smith, Errol W. Robinson, Aleksey V. Tolmachev, Ron M.A. Heeren and Ljiljana Pasa-Tolic, C60 Secondary Ion Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry Anal. Chem. 83, 9552–9556 (2011).