DMSO enhances electrospray response, boosting sensitivity of proteomic experiments

The addition of a low percentage of DMSO into liquid chromatography solvents strongly enhances peptide electrospray ionization, substantially improving proteome analysis by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. We report that low percentages of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) in liquid chromatography solvents lead to a strong enhancement of electrospray ionization of peptides, improving the sensitivity of protein identification in bottom-up proteomics by up to tenfold. The method can be easily implemented on any LC-MS/MS system without modification to hardware or software and at no additional cost.