Abstract
Fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FAB/MS) is one of the most successful soft ionization methods for MS analysis of nonvolatile, thermolabile, polar organic compounds. The ionization occurs as a sputtering process caused by impact of the activated fast atom beam on the sample which is generally dissolved in a viscous liquid such as glycerol. The minimun amount of the sample to obtain a good spectrum is usually 0.1 to 1.0 μg and the mass spectrum lasts 10 to 30 minutes. The sophisticated mass spectral techniques such as MS/MS and HR/MS can be successfully adapted to the FAB ionization to analyze complicated organic mixtures as well as biological samples.
The ionization source and the ionization process, types of liquid matrices and their roles, instruments, linked scan, HR/MS for FAB/MS and their applications for organic and biological research areas are discussed.
