FEASIBILITY OF HIGH MASS RESOLUTION MATRIX-ASSISTED LASER DESORPTION MASS SPECTROMETRY

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PHASE I RESEARCH IS TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF THE MATRIX-ASSISTED LASER DESORPTION (MALD) TECHNIQUE ON OUR TRIPLE ELECTROSTATIC SECTOR TIME-OF-FLIGHT MASS SPECTROMETER (TOF-MS) FOR THE ANALYSIS OF BIO-ORGANIC COMPOUNDS. THIS PARTICULAR TOF-MS WAS DEVELOPED AT CHARLES EVANS AND ASSOCIATES AND FEATURES HIGH MASS RESOLUTION (THEORETICAL LIMIT OF C.A. 10,000 (FWHM)), EXCELLENT MASS ACCURACY (PPM RANGE) AND SPECIAL STIGMATIC ION OPTICS WHICH PERMIT DIRECT ION IMAGING OVER A LARGE (200 MICROMETER) FIELD OF VIEW. WE WILL ADD A ND:YAG LASER TO THIS INSTRUMENT AND PROPOSE TO STUDY THIS INSTRUMENT'S SUITABILITY TO HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHT BIOPOLYMER ANALYSIS. CURRENTLY AVAILABLE MALD-TOF SYSTEMS HAVE SHOWN PROMISING AND USEFUL DATA IN THIS APPLICATION BUT SUFFER FROM POOR MASS RESOLUTION. THE ABILITY TO GENERATE DATA AT HIGHER MASS RESOLUTION COULD PROVIDE SIGNIFICANT ADVANCES TO THE BIOMOLECULAR SCIENCES. HIGH MASS RESOLUTION MALD-TOF COULD DISTINGUISH DIFFERENT ADDUCTS OR MODIFICATIONS OF A MOLECULAR SPECIES AS WELL AS EXPLORE THE HETEROGENEITY WHICH IS COMMON IN BIOPOLYMERS. SHOULD OUR IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS TECHNIQUE PROVE FEASIBLE, WE ANTICIPATE WIDESPREAD APPLICATIONS IN THE FIELDS OF PROTEIN AND PEPTIDE CHEMISTRY AND STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY IN GENERAL.