Patent ID: 8105838

Claim:
A method for performing chemical analyses, the method comprising the steps of: a) digesting, according to a pre-selected digestion method, a reference sample comprising a polypeptide to obtain a plurality of precursors associated with the polypeptide; b) separating, according to a pre-selected chromatographic method, the plurality of precursors, and determining values associated with retention times of the separated plurality of precursors; c) ionizing, according to a pre-selected ionization method, at least some of the separated plurality of precursors to form a plurality of precursor ions; d) mass analyzing the plurality of precursor ions to determine values associated with mass and values associated with ion intensity of the plurality of precursor ions; e) storing in a polypeptide catalog a profile of the polypeptide, the profile defined by an identity of the polypeptide, the values associated with mass and ion intensity of the plurality of precursor ions, and the values associated with retention times of the separated plurality of precursors corresponding to the plurality of precursors ions; f) repeating steps (a) through (d) on a subject sample in place of the reference sample to obtain subject-sample values associated with mass, ion intensity, and retention time; and g) identifying the polypeptide in the subject sample in response to a match between the subject-sample values and the values of the stored profile of the polypeptide.