METHOD FOR ESTIMATING MOLECULAR-MASS FROM ELECTROSPRAY SPECTRA

A multiplicative correlation algorithm (MCA) is used to estimate the mass of macromolecules from the mass-to-charge spectra produced by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. When compared with previous algorithms for processing electrospray spectra, the MCA allows accurate mass determinations with a reduced quantity of sample. The performance of the MCA improves as the signal from the molecular ion is distributed across an increasing number of charge states, as the range of mass-to-charge values used to calculate the mass spectrum are constrained, and as noise is excluded from the calculations. The molecular ion peak in the mass spectrum increases exponentially with analyte concentration and ultimately limits the dynamic range of the measurement.