Fragmentation Reactions of Nucleic Acid Ions in the Gas Phase

Abstract

This chapter summarizes literature describing the gas-phase fragmentation of nucleic acid ions under a variety of reaction conditions. Specifically, the phenomenology of gas-phase dissociation of nucleic acid ions is determined by ion type, charge state, the energy deposition method, and the fragmentation reaction timescale. Various proposed mechanisms are summarized. The chapter is organized by dissociation method. For the most extensively studied collision-induced dissociation (CID), the literature is subcategorized by analyte and ion type. In many cases, no single fragmentation mechanism can account for all the reported products. This suggests that multiple dissociation mechanisms can contribute, depending on ion type, ion charge state, and reaction conditions.