Professor James P. Reilly of Indiana University is supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry to conduct mechanistic studies of biomolecular ion fragmentation induced by vacuum ultraviolet laser light. Deuterium isotope experiments will be used to probe the mechanisms of fragmentation of peptides and proteins. The dependence of the fragmentation profiles on laser light wavelength, and the effect of variations in incident laser light intensity on the observed fragmentation profiles will also be examined. Further, the effects of protein phosphorylation and glycosylation on the ability of this technique to determine protein sequence information will be studied.
The research promises to provide basic understanding of the fundamentals of the vacuum ultraviolet laser ligh photoionization of peptides, and to develop mass spectrometric tools and methods for proteomic analysis. The project has the potential for high impact in mass spectrometry as well as in bioanalytical chemistry where researchers need improved tools for analysis of proteins.
