massaspektrometrisiin

Massaspektrometrisiin, or mass spectrometry in English, is an analytical technique used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. It is a powerful tool employed in various scientific disciplines, including chemistry, biology, and physics, for identifying and quantifying unknown compounds, determining the elemental composition of a sample, and elucidating the structure of molecules.

The process typically involves ionizing sample molecules, separating these ions based on their mass-to-charge ratio, and then detecting the separated ions. Ionization can be achieved through various methods, such as electron ionization (EI), chemical ionization (CI), or electrospray ionization (ESI), depending on the nature of the sample. Once ionized, the ions are accelerated into a mass analyzer, where they are subjected to electric and/or magnetic fields. These fields deflect the ions, with lighter ions or those with higher charge being deflected more than heavier or less charged ions. Finally, a detector measures the abundance of ions at each mass-to-charge ratio, generating a mass spectrum. This spectrum is a plot of ion abundance versus mass-to-charge ratio, providing a unique fingerprint of the analyzed substance. Mass spectrometry is indispensable for applications ranging from drug discovery and environmental monitoring to forensic analysis and proteomics.