ABSTRACT
One of the major applications of ion mobility and ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IMS and IM-MS) is in the separation, detection, and identification of metabolites in complex biological matrices in an analytical process known as metabolomics. Standard analytical methods, such as gas chromatography (GC), liquid chromatography (LC), capillary electrophoresis (CE), LC-MS, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), have limitations of speed, specificity, and/or sensitivity when applied to metabolic analysis and metabolomics. Emerging analytical methods of ion mobility and ion mobility-mass spectrometry offer complementary approaches for separating, detecting, and quantifying metabolites in complex biological mixtures.
