Razunguzwa Trust, Timperman Aaron T
Department of Chemistry, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV , USA.
Methods Mol Biol. 2006;339:67-84. doi: 10.1385/1-59745-076-6:67.
Microfluidic devices are a unique enabling technology for chemical separations, modification, and synthesis that are ideally suited for the manipulation of low volume samples on the order of a few nanoliters in volume. Complex patterns of capillary-sized channels with zero dead volume connections are the distinguishing features of many microfluidic devices. Concurrently, mass spectrometry has undergone further development, and is now arguably the method of choice for structural characterization of mass- and volume-limited samples. The production of ions in the gas phase from the solution phase is critical for direct coupling of fluidic devices with the mass spectrometer, and the electrospray ionization (ESI) sources are well suited for this application. Micro- and nanoflow ESI interfaces are ideal for these applications as they cover flow rate ranges from the hundreds to a few nanoliters per minute, which are the same as the flow rates used by most microfluidic devices. Herein, the assembly and operation of a simple ESI interface for coupling a microfluidic device and mass spectrometer is described.
微流控装置是一种独特的使能技术，适用于化学分离、修饰和合成，非常适合处理体积在几纳升量级的少量样品。具有零死体积连接的毛细管尺寸通道的复杂图案是许多微流控装置的显著特征。与此同时，质谱技术也得到了进一步发展，现在可以说是用于对质量和体积受限样品进行结构表征的首选方法。从溶液相产生气相离子对于流体装置与质谱仪的直接耦合至关重要，而电喷雾电离（ESI）源非常适合此应用。微流和纳流ESI接口是这些应用的理想选择，因为它们涵盖的流速范围从每分钟数百纳升到几纳升，这与大多数微流控装置使用的流速相同。本文描述了一种用于连接微流控装置和质谱仪的简单ESI接口的组装和操作。
