Electrospray Ionization Traveling Wave Ion Mobility Spectrometry Mass Spectrometry for the Analysis of Plant Phenolics: An Approach for Separation of Regioisomers

Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA Abstract The use of ion-mobility spectrometry (IMS) coupled to mass spectrometry (IMS–MS) for biomolecule analyses has steadily increased over the past two decades, and is now applied to both proteomic and metabolomic investigations. This chapter describes the application of traveling-wave ion-mobility spectrometry–mass spectrometry (TWIMS–MS) to the analysis of a selection of bioactive phytochemicals used in dietary supplements. Applications include the analysis of grape seed proanthocyanidins and the structural characterization of bioactive constituents of dietary supplements using TWIMS-MS in conjunction with tandem mass spectrometry. We also discussed is the application of TWIMS-MS for the gasphase mobility separation of structural isomers and the estimation of collision cross sections for a small selection of phenolic compounds from hop. Recent applications of IMS–MS to a broad range of biomolecule measurements have demonstrated that IMS–MS has emerged as a powerful analytical technique capable of providing the separation space necessary to analyze highly complex samples. We give a perspective on emerging applications of IMS–MS for small molecule and biopolymer applications. The combination of devices that allow real-time monitoring of living systems using IMS–MS is an exciting avenue of facilitating system-biology experiments. The future of IMS–MS is bright and full of opportunities.