• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.92-99
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• 2010

Photoexcitation of a precursor ion inside a cell floated at high voltage installed in a tandem time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer provides triple tandem mass spectrometric information and allows kinetic and mechanistic studies. In this work, the factors affecting, or downgrading, the performance of the technique were identified. Ion-optical and computational analyses showed that an optimum instrument could be designed by utilizing a reflectron with linear-plus-quadratic potential inside. Theoretical predictions were confirmed by tests with instruments built with different ion-optical layout. With optimized instruments, masses of intermediate ions in the consecutive dissociation of a precursor ion could be determined with the maximum error of $\pm5$ Da. We also observed excellent agreement in dynamical parameters (critical energy and entropy) for the dissociation of a model peptide ion determined by instruments with different ion-optical layout operated under optimum conditions. This suggests that these parameters can be determined reliably by the kinetic method developed previously when properly designed and operated tandem TOF instruments are used.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.138-147
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• 2020

Various microorganisms play important roles in food fermentation, food spoilage, and agriculture. In this study, the biotype of 54 yeast and bacterial strains having high potential for utilization in food and agriculture, including Candida spp., Lactobacillus spp., and Acetobacter spp., were characterized by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). This characterization using a fast and robust method provides much-needed information on the selected microorganisms and will facilitate effective usage of these strains in various applications. Importantly, the unique protein profile of each microbial species obtained from this study was used to create a database of fingerprints from these species. The database was validated using microbial strains of the same species by comparing the mass spectra with the created database through pattern matching. The created reference database provides crucial information and is useful for further utilization of a large number of valuable microorganisms relevant to food and agriculture.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.173-181
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• 2003

A polymeric micelle drug delivery system was developed to enhance the solubility of poorly-water soluble drug, biphenyl dimethyl dicarboxylate, DDB. The block copolymers consisting of poly(D,L-lactide) (PLA) as the hydrophobic segment and methoxy poly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG) as the hydrophilic segment were synthesized and characterized by NMR, DSC and MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopy. The size of the polymeric micelles measured by dynamic light scattering showed a narrow monodisperse size distribution with the average diameter less than 50 nm. The MW of mPEG-PLA, 3000 (MW of mPEG, 2 K; MW of PLA, 1K), and the presence of hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments on the polymeric micelles were confirmed by MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopy and NMR, respectively. Polymeric micelle solutions of DDB were prepared by three different methods, i.e. the matrix method, emulsion method and dialysis method. In the matrix method, DDB solubility was reached to 13.29 mg/mL. The mPEG-PLA 2K-1K micelle system was compared with the poloxamer 407 micelle system for their critical micelle concentration, micelle size, solubilizing capacity, stability in dilution and physical state. DDB loaded-polymeric micelles prepared by the matrix method showed a significantly increased aqueous solubility (＞5000 fold over intrinsic solubility) and were found to be superior to the poloxamer 407 micelles as a drug carrier.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.110-114
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• 2014

The method of direct mass spectrometry profiling is reliable and reproducible for the rapid identification of clinical isolates of bacteria and fungi. This is the first study evaluating the approach of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry profiling for rapid identification of carbapenemase-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE). Proof of concept was achieved by the discrimination of CRE using MALDI Biotyper MS based on the protein. This profiling appears promising by the visual observation of consistent unique peaks, albeit low intensity, that could be picked up from the mean spectra (MSP) method. The Biotyper MSP creation and identification methods needed to be optimized to provide significantly improved differences in scores to allow for subspecies identification with and without carbapenemases. These spectra were subjected to visual peak picking and in all cases; there were pertinent differences in the presence or absence of potential biomarker peaks to differentiate isolates. We also evaluated this method for potential discrimination between different carbapenemases bacteria, utilizing the same strategy. Based on our data and pending further investigation in other CREs, MALDI-TOF MS has potential as a diagnostic tool for the rapid identification of even closely related carbapenemases but would require a paradigm shift in which Biotyper suppliers enable more flexible software control of mass spectral profiling methods.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.185-191
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• 2014

In this study we evaluated that flow rate changes affect the (time of flight) TOF image and contrast-enhanced (CE) in a three-dimensional TOF angiography. We used a 3.0T MR System, a nonpulsatile flow rate model. Saline was used as a fluid injected at a flow rate of 11.4 cm/sec by auto injector. The fluid signal strength, phantom body signal strength and background signal strength were measured at 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25-th cross-section in the experienced images and then they were used to determine signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio. The inlet, middle and outlet length were measured using coronal images obtained through the maximum intensity projection method. As a result, the length of inner cavity was 2.66 mm with no difference among the inlet, middle and outlet length. We also could know that the magnification rate is 49-55.6% in inlet part, 49-59% in middle part and 49-59% in outlet part, and so the image is generally larger than in the actual measurement. Signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio were negatively correlated with the fluid velocity and so we could see that signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio are reduced by faster fluid velocity. Signal-to-noise ratio was 42.2-52.5 in 5-25th section and contrast-to-noise ratio was from 34.0-46.1 also not different, but there was a difference in the 1st section. The smallest 3D TOF MRA measure was $2.51{\pm}0.12mm$ with a flow velocity of 40 cm/s. Consequently, 3D TOF MRA tests show that the faster fluid velocity decreases the signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio, and basically it can be determined that 3D TOF MRA and 3D CE MRA are displayed larger than in the actual measurement.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.311-316
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• 2008

Since the presence of the chemical impurities and defect at surfaces and interfaces greatly influence the properties of various semiconductor devices, an unambiguous chemical characterization of the metal and semiconductor surfaces become more important in the view of the miniaturization of the devices toward nano scale. Among the various conventional surface characterization tools, Electron-induced Auger Electron Spectroscopy (EAES), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Secondary Electron Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) are being used for the identification of the surface chemical impurities. Recently, a novel surface characterizaion technique, Positron-annihilation induced Auger Electron Spectroscopy (PAES) is introduced to provide a unique method for the analysis of the elemental composition of the top-most atomic layer. In PAES, monoenergetic positron of a few eV are implanted to the surface under study and these positrons become thermalized near the surface. A fraction of the thermalized positron trapped at the surface state annihilate with the neighboring core-level electrons, creating core-hole excitations, which initiate the Auger process with the emission of Auger electrons almost simultaneously with the emission of annihilating gamma-rays. The energy of electrons is generally determined by employing ExB energy selector, which shows a poor resolution of $6{\sim}10eV$. In this paper, time-of-flight system is employed to measure the electrons energy with an enhanced energy resolution. The experimental result is compared with simulation results in the case of both linear (with retarding tube) and reflected TOF systems.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.815-819
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• 2013

Micropatterns of streptavidin and human epidermal carcinoma A431 cells were successfully imaged, as received and without any labeling, using cluster $Au_3{^+}$ ion beam-based time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) together with a principal component analysis (PCA). Three different analysis ion beams ($Ga^+$, $Au^+$ and $Au_3{^+}$) were compared to obtain label-free TOF-SIMS chemical images of micropatterns of streptavidin, which were subsequently used for generating cell patterns. The image of the total positive ions obtained by the $Au_3{^+}$ primary ion beam corresponded to the actual image of micropatterns of streptavidin, whereas the total positive-ion images by $Ga^+$ or $Au^+$ primary ion beams did not. A PCA of the TOF-SIMS spectra was initially performed to identify characteristic secondary ions of streptavidin. Chemical images of each characteristic ion were reconstructed from the raw data and used in the second PCA run, which resulted in a contrasted - and corrected - image of the micropatterns of streptavidin by the $Ga^+$ and $Au^+$ ion beams. The findings herein suggest that using cluster-ion analysis beams and multivariate data analysis for TOF-SIMS chemical imaging would be an effectual method for producing label-free chemical images of micropatterns of biomolecules, including proteins and cells.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.470-475
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• 2013

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a major environmental factor that leads to acute and chronic reactions in the human skin. UV exposure induces wrinkle formation, DNA damage, and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Most mechanistic studies of skin physiology and pharmacology related with UV-irradiated skin have focused on proteins and their related gene expression or single-targeted small molecules. The present study identified and analyzed the alteration of skin metabolites following UVB irradiation and topical retinyl palmitate (RP, 5%) treatment in hairless mice using direct analysis in real time (DART) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) with multivariate analysis. Under the negative ion mode, the DART ion source successfully ionized various fatty acids including palmitoleic and linolenic acid. From DART-TOF-MS fingerprints measured in positive mode, the prominent dehydrated ion peak (m/z: 369, M+H-$H_2O$) of cholesterol was characterized in all three groups. In positive mode, the discrimination among three groups was much clearer than that in negative mode by using multivariate analysis of orthogonal partial-least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). DART-TOF-MS can ionize various small organic molecules in living tissues and is an efficient alternative analytical tool for acquiring full chemical fingerprints from living tissues without requiring sample preparation. DART-MS measurement of skin tissue with multivariate analysis proved to be a powerful method to discriminate between experimental groups and to find biomarkers for various experiment models in skin dermatological research.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.1112-1121
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• 2018

Jeotgal is a Korean traditional fermented seafood with a high concentration of salt. In this study, we isolated lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from galchi (Trichiurus lepturus, hairtail) and myeolchi (Engraulis japonicas, anchovy) jeotgal on MRS agar and MRS agar containing 5% NaCl (MRS agar+5% NaCl), and identified them by using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) as culture-dependent methods. We also performed polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) as a culture-independent method to identify bacterial communities. Five samples of galchi-jeotgal and seven samples of myeolchi-jeotgal were collected from different regions in Korea. A total of 327 and 395 colonies were isolated from the galchi- and myeolchi-jeotgal samples, respectively. 16S rRNA gene sequencing and MALDI-TOF MS revealed that the genus Pediococcus was predominant on MRS agar, and Tetragenococcus halophilus on MRS agar+5% NaCl. PCR-DGGE revealed that T. halophilus, Tetragenococcus muriaticus, and Lactobacillus sakei were predominant in both types of jeotgal. T. halophilus was detected in all samples. Even though the same species were identified by both culture-dependent and -independent methods, many species identified by the culture-dependent methods were not in the bacterial list identified by the culture-independent methods. The distribution of bacteria in galchi-jeotgal was more diverse than in myeolchi-jeotgal. The diverse LAB in galchi- and myeolchi-jeotgals can be further studied as candidates for starter cultures to produce fermented foods.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 2011

An accurate mass and isotope ratio were determined using a gas chromatography/time of flight mass spectrometer in CI positive mode for the identification of unknown metabolites. High mass tune was used to improve the ion intensity of $[M+H]^+$. Chromatographic resolution and dynamic range enhancement were performed to obtain more reliable accurate masses and correct isotope abundance ratios. Average absolute errors of mass and isotope ratios for 24 reference metabolite -TMS (trimethylsilyl) derivatives were 6.8 ppm, 1.5% of (M+1/M ratio) and 1.7% of (M+2/M ratio), respectively. The correct formulas of twenty one compound were retrieved within top-2 hit from the heuristic algorithm for elemental composition using each accurate mass and isotope abundance ratio.