Details the many benefits of applying mass spectrometry to supramolecular chemistry

Except as a method for the most basic measurements, mass spectrometry (MS) has long been considered incompatible with supramolecular chemistry. Yet, with today's methods, the disconnect between these two fields is not warranted. Mass Spectrometry and Gas-Phase Chemistry of Non-Covalent Complexes provides a convincing look at how modern MS techniques offer supramolecular chemists a powerful investigatory toolset.

Bringing the two fields together in an interdisciplinary manner, this reference details the many different topics associated with the study of non-covalent complexes in the gas phase. The text begins with brief introductions to supramolecular chemistry and such relevant mass spectrometric methods as ionization techniques, analyzers, and tandem MS experiments. The coverage continues with:

• How the analyte's transition into the gas phase changes covalent bonding

• How limitations and pitfalls in analytical methods may produce data misinterpretations

• Artificial supramolecular aggregates and their examination

• Biomolecules, their complexes, and their examination

After the general remarks making up the first section of the book, the following sections describe specific experimental procedures and are illustrated with numerous examples and short tutorials. Detailed citations end each chapter. Mass spectrometrists, supramolecular chemists, students in these fields, and interested readers from other disciplines involving the study of non-covalent bonds will all value Mass Spectrometry and Gas-Phase Chemistry of Non-Covalent Complexes as an innovative and practical resource.

Christoph A. Schalley, PhD, is a professor of organic chemistry at Freie Universität Berlin. He received his PhD with Helmut Schwarz at the Technische Universität Berlin followed by a postdoctorate with Julius Rebek, Jr., at The Scripps Research Institute in California. He has authored more than 120 publications and edited seven books. He was awarded the Dozentenstipendium in 2004 of the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie and the Mattauch-Herzog Prize from the German Society of Mass Spectrometry in 2006.

Andreas Springer, PhD, received his PhD from the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin for work with Prof. Michael Linscheid. Currently, he is head of the mass spectrometry core facility of the Department of Chemistry at Freie Universität Berlin, where he is running — besides a collection of up-to-date instruments — one of the oldest, still working EI sector-field instruments worldwide.