Lipid/Peptide/Nucleotide Separation with MALDI-Ion Mobility-TOF MS

• Published in: Analytical chemistry (Washington) 2004-04, Vol.76 (8), p.2187-2195
• Main Authors: Woods, Amina S, Ugarov, Michael, Egan, Tom, Koomen, John, Gillig, Kent J, Fuhrer, Katrin, Gonin, Marc, Schultz, J. Albert
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analgesics, Opioid - analysis; Analytical biochemistry: general aspects, technics, instrumentation; Analytical chemistry; Analytical, structural and metabolic biochemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Chemistry; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Ion chromatography; Lipids; Lipids - chemistry; Mass Spectrometry - instrumentation; Mass Spectrometry - methods; Morphine - analysis; Nucleotides - chemistry; Peptides; Peptides - chemistry; Saliva - chemistry; Sensitivity and Specificity; Spectrometric and optical methods; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization - instrumentation; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization - methods; Spectrum analysis
• ISSN: 0003-2700; 1520-6882
• DOI: 10.1021/ac035376k

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization when combined with ion mobility-orthogonal time-of-flight mass spectrometry is a viable technique for fast separation and analysis of biomolecules in complex mixtures. Isobaric lipid, peptide, and oligonucleotide ions are preseparated before mass analysis by differences of up to 30% in mobility drift time. Ions of similar chemical type fall along well-defined “trend lines” (with deviations of ∼3%) when plotted in two-dimensional representations of ion mobility as a function of m/z. Discussion of fundamental and technical limitations of the technique point to its potential for being most useful when applied to systems such as bodily fluids and intact tissue, where an alternative chemical or chromatographic preseparation step prior to mass analysis is either impractical or undesirable.