ESI-MS studies of silver ion competitive interaction with cysteine containing peptides and sulfur-containing amino acids

The paper deals with investigation of silver ion interaction with sulfur-bearing amino acids and cysteine-bearing peptides using an electrospray ionisation orthogonal ion introduction time-of-flight (esi-o-tof) mass spectrometer. it has been shown that cys and hcy demonstrate the largest affinity for silver,both in relation to methionine and cys-teine residues in peptides. the studies have for the first time revealed the effect of predominant forming of ions containing two silver atoms per a sulfhydryl group of cysteine-bearing peptides if the nearest microenvironment does not hinder this. © 2010 bentham science publishers ltd.