Collision cross sections of large positive fullerene molecular ions and their use as ion mobility calibrants in trapped ion mobility mass spectrometry

Positive-ion laser desorption/ionization (LDI) of fullerenes contained in soot as produced by the Krätschmer-Huffman process delivers a wide range of fullerene molecular ions from C(56)^(+•) to above C(300)^(+•). Here, the collision cross section (CCS) values of those fullerene molecular ions are determined using a trapped ion mobility-quadrupole-time-of-flight (TIMS-Q-TOF) instrument. While CCS values in the range from C(60)^(+•) to C(96)^(+•) are already known with high accuracy, those of …