Use of ion-mobility mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) to map polyoxometalate Keplerate clusters and their supramolecular assemblies

We present the high-resolution (HRES-MS) and ion-mobility (IMS-MS) mass spectrometry studies of icosahedral nanoscale polyoxometalate-based {L30}{(Mo)Mo5} Keplerate clusters, and demonstrate the use of IMS-MS to resolve and map intact nanoclusters, and its potential for the discovery of new structures, in this case the first gas phase observation of ‘proto-clustering’ of higher order Keplerate supramolecular aggregates.