This research project, supported in the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program, uses electrospray and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) source Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometry (FTMS) to investigate the structure of gas phase macromolecular complexes. Hydrogen-deuterium exchange, coupled with deprotonation reactions, provides structural information about large peptide and protein complexes. Lysozyme-oligosaccharide complexes will be examined, and general methods for the structural elucidation of complex biological molecules using mass spectrometry will be developed. Systematic, quantitative studies of non- covalent bonding in these gas phase complexes will be carried out. The structural characterization of large biological molecules, including drug-protein complexes and macromolecular species of interest to biology, is essential for the understanding of life processes. Mass spectrometric approaches to the solution of these structural problems is the focus of this research project. The use of isotopic exchange and deprotonation reactions provides a non- destructive structural probe in this effort. The results of this research project will have immediate application in the structural analysis of many important biological systems.
