| Isotopes |
|
|
|
|
| +Most elements have more than one
stable isotope. |
|||
| For
example, most carbon atoms have a mass of 12 Da, but in |
|||
| nature,
1.1% of C atoms have an extra neutron, making their mass |
|||
| 13 Da. |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
| +Why do we care? |
||||
| Mass
spectrometers can “see” isotope peaks if their resolution is |
||||
| high enough. |
||||
| If
an MS instrument has resolution high enough to resolve these |
||||
| isotopes,
better mass accuracy is achieved. |
||||