Patent ID: 8598514

Claim:
A method of analyzing a sample of an analyte, the method comprising: (1) providing a sample solution comprising a solvent and the analyte as a sample stream; (2) forming gas-phase analyte ions having multiple positive charges by passing the sample stream through an electrified sprayer; (3) providing a flow of gas and a guide for guiding positively charged analyte ions from the electrified sprayer to a downstream reaction region within the guide, wherein the reaction region is substantially free of an electric field from the electrified sprayer; (4) providing gas-phase negatively charged species by a means for forming gas-phase negatively charged species, said gas-phase negatively charged species for reaction with gas-phase positively charged analyte ions; (5) introducing the negatively charged species to the reaction region within the guide and wherein the reaction region is at or near atmospheric pressure; (6) reacting positively charged analyte ions with the negatively charged species in the reaction region within the guide, thereby causing fragmentation of at least a portion of the positively charged analyte ions, said fragmentation occurring by at least one of electron capture dissociation and electron transfer dissociation; and (7) passing the positively charged ions from the reaction region of the guide into a mass analyzer of a mass spectrometer for mass analysis of the ions.