Unraveling the mechanism of electrospray ionization

Anal Chem. 2013 Jan 2;85(1):2-9. doi: 10.1021/ac302789c. Epub 2012 Nov 20.

Abstract

Electrospray ionization (ESI) generates intact gas-phase ions from analytes in solution for mass spectrometric investigations. ESI can proceed via different mechanisms. Low molecular weight analytes follow the ion evaporation model (IEM), whereas the charged residue model (CRM) applies to large globular species. A chain ejection model (CEM) has been proposed for disordered polymers.