"Fragment ions" refers to smaller pieces of molecules that are produced when a larger molecule breaks apart. These fragments can provide important information about the original molecule's structure and composition.
Full definition
SONAR can catalog a complete sample with precursor and
fragment ion spectra from a data independent analysis (DIA) experiment in a single sample injection, giving researchers quantitative and qualitative information about the proteins or metabolites.
The LTQ - Orbitrap Velos MS / MS data were first processed by in - house software DeconMSn [21] accurately determining the monoisotopic mass and charge state of parent ions, followed by SEQUEST search against the IPI database in the same fashion as described above, with the exception that a 0.1 - Dalton mass tolerance for precursor ions and 1 - Dalton mass tolerance for
fragment ions were used.
Similar measurements in the isotopomer of H2 namely D2 does not show such a strong asymmetry in ejection of
the fragment ion but shows the reversal of the asymmetry as a function of incoming electron energy.
They create
the fragment ions by «smashing» precursor molecules in the gas phase.