A design is presented involving two separate vacuum chambers to provide nearly simultaneous capabilities of liquid secondary ion mass spectrometry (LSIMS), matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI), and electrospray ionization (ESI) in an external source Fourier transform mass spectrometer. The instrument consists of two vacuum chambers, one with five stages of differential pumping for a combined LSIMS/MALDI source. The chamber dedicated to ESI was formerly a three-stage chamber with LSIMS and electron ionization. Two additional stages were added with the ESI source. LSIMS and MALDI have similar vacuum requirements and were moved to a newly built chamber with two stages of pumping. We present our first results obtained on the new vacuum chamber. Data presented for the MALDI source show that, with only two stages of pumping, and with shorter radio frequency-only quadrupole rods for ion injection, spectra comparable to those obtained on the formerly three-stage instrument can be obtained. Characterization of the MALDI source and data on linear, cyclic, and branched oligosaccharides are given. Finally, the design of the secon chamber is proposed as a low-cost prototype for an external source FTMS instrument.

The exact masses of bastadins, cyclic peptides from marine sponges Ianthella basta, are determined using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) coupled to a Fourier transform mass spectrometer. Two known compounds were mixed with the unknown to serve as internal calibrants. The mass of the calibrants bracketed the mass of the unknown compound. With this method, exact masses were obtained to within 5 ppm for single determinations, and less than 3 ppm for multiple determinations, allowing the derivation of elemental composition. This method is viable for routinely obtaining the exact masses of new compounds with MALDI.