Investigation of Separation Strategies for Bioanalytical Methods: Chromatography, Ion Mobility and Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Separation of complex biological samples is major challenge in bioanalytical chemistry. Ion mobility spectrometry (IM) is an emerging analytical method which provides an additional method to separate structurally similar molecules prior to mass analysis. In particular, the addition of ion mobility to mass spectrometry provides the ability to resolve isomeric species in complex mixtures, which is a growing challenge in terms of relating structural molecular specificity to biological relevance. This chiral recognition is particularly important in many biological sciences, including translation of amino acids and pharmaceutical production. Utilizing recent advances in ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS), this work details the empirical underpinnings of separation science from lenses of chromatography, ion mobility, and mass spectrometry. The advances made in these studies will further the ability to distinguish and characterize molecules in complex samples in order to provide increased structural confidence in molecular identification.