Identification of low molecular weight carbohydrates employing new binary mixtures for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry.

Various energy-absorbing substances, aminopyrazine (AP), 4,4'-azodianiline (ADA), and 1-chloro-4-hydroxyisoquinoline (CHIQ), together with their binary mixtures with existing acidic MALDI matrices were subjected to matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) and evaluated for the analysis of low molecular weight carbohydrates. The newly introduced systems, especially AP and the combination of 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid and aminopyrazine (DHB-AP), have solved almost all the existing problems of the generally low sensitivity of carbohydrate analysis and of the strong background noise produced from single acidic matrices. In fact, especially at a mixing ratio of 3:1 (DHB/AP), outstanding results could be achieved, enabling the detection of analytes down to a concentration of 4 fmol/microL with mass accuracy of 37 ppm.

Identification of carbohydrates by matrix-free material-enhanced laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) is a sensitive mass spectrometric technique which utilises acidic materials as matrices for laser energy absorption, desorption and ionisation of analytes. These matrix materials produce background signals particularly in the low-mass range and make the detection and identification of small molecules difficult and nearly impossible. To overcome this problem this paper introduces matrix-free material-enhanced laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry (mf-MELDI-MS) for the screening and analysis of small molecules such as carbohydrates.