THE INFLUENCE OF COLLISIONAL COOLING ON BOUNDARY-ACTIVATED DECOMPOSITION IN AN ION-TRAP MASS-SPECTROMETER

When the working point of a precursor ion confined within a quadrupole ion trap is moved to the vicinity of a boundary of the stability diagram, fragmentation of the precursor ion can be induced by virtue of energy gained from the radio-frequency trapping field. This behaviour is known as the 'border effect'. When the isolated precursor ion is subjected to a cooling period of variable duration, in the presence of helium buffer gas and prior to experiencing the 'border effect', a high degree of control of the fragmentation pattern is achieved. The cooling period causes decreases in both ion kinetic energy and ion axial excursions. From this preliminary study, it is suggested that the deposition of internal energy during the 'border effect' can be varied by changing the duration of the cooling period. In addition to a degree of control of internal energy deposition, the amount of energy which can be deposited in this manner, though unknown, appears to exceed those energy levels achievable with resonance excitation and the 'border effect' without collisional cooling, in that an additional fragmentation channel is accessed.