Tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometer with delayed extraction and method for use

Abstract

A tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry including a pulsed ion generator, a timed ion selector in communication with the pulsed ion generator, an ion fragmentor in communication with the ion selector, and an analyzer in communication with the fragmentation chamber. The fragmentation chamber not only produces fragment ions, but also serves as a delayed extraction ion source for the analyzing of the fragment ions by time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

1 . A tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometer comprising: 
 a) a pulsed source of ions that focuses ions of a predetermined mass-to-charge ratio range onto a focal plane;    b) a timed ion selector positioned at the focal place to receive the focused ions from the pulsed sources of ions, wherein said timed ion selector permits only the ions of the predetermined mass-to-charge ratio range to travel to the ion fragmentor;    c) an ion fragmentor in communications with said timed ion selector;    d) a timed pulsed extractor coupled to said ion fragmentor, wherein the timed pulsed extractor accelerates the predetermined ions and fragments thereof; and    e) a time-of-flight analyzer in communication with the timed pulsed extractor, wherein said time-of-flight analyzer determines the mass-to-charge ratio of the preselected ions and fragments thereof    
     
     
         2 - 37 . (canceled)