Mass Spectrometry

Tandem Mass Spectrometry

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Tandem mass spectrometry, abbreviated MS/MS, is any general method involving at least two stages of mass analysis, either in conjunction with a dissociation process or in a chemical reaction that causes a change in the mass or charge of an ion. The process initiates by isolating a biomolecule of interest from a biological sample and then fragmenting it into multiple subunits in order to help elucidate its composition and sequence. To accomplish this, mass spectrometers are arranged in series. The first spectrometer is arranged to ionize a sample and filter ions of a specific mass to charge ratio. Filtered ions are then fragmented and passed to a second mass spectrometer where the fragments are analyzed.