MALDI fragmentation

MALDI produces ions from large molecules with little molecular scission or fragmentation. MALDI ion sources are often coupled with a time-of-flight (TOE) mass analyzer in order to provide a virtually unlimited mass range. The MALDI technique is similar to laser desorption/ionization and the two methods have some common features. A short, intense laser pulse is fired against the sample, causing the analyte molecules to pass into the gas phase. Some of these molecules have electric charge. 

MALDI (Section 12.4) Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization a mild method for ionizing a molecule so that fragmentation is minimized during mass spectrometry. 

Mass spectroscopy is a useful technique for the characterization of dendrimers because it can be used to determine relative molar mass. Also, from the fragmentation pattern, the details of the monomer assembly in the branches can be confirmed. A variety of mass spectroscopic techniques have been used for this, including electron impact, fast atom bombardment and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectroscopy. 

Experimentation showed that the protein was not glycosylated and that the sequence at the iV-amino acid terminus corresponded to that expected. The C-terminus sequence, however, did not correspond to that predicted and these data were interpreted in terms of the presence of a heterogeneous, truncated, protein. A study of the tryptic digest fragments from this protein with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) with post-source decay enabled the authors to suggest the positions at which the parent protein had been truncated. 

The fact that only ethylene and tetramethylethylene are evolved from exp-[8]rotane 168 and permethyl-exp-[6]rotane 173 upon thermal decomposition leads to the conclusion that the spirocyclopropane moieties in these expanded [n]rotanes fragment only externally and leave carbene moieties behind. Indeed, the MALDI-TOF mass spectra of several exp-[ ]rotanes show fragment ions with M minus 28. Thus, if this fragmentation in an exp-[n]rotane were to continue n times, a cyclic C carbon cluster would be left over. So far, however, a fragment ion with m/z = 480 corresponding to 182 has not been recorded in the mass spectrum of exp-[8]rotane 168 and it remains to be seen whether a Cgo cluster 183 will be detected in the mass spectrum of exp-[12]rotane 171 (Scheme 35). 

The MALDI-TOF mass spectra of the Cso-fullerene-annelated [3]- and [4]rotanes 127 and 128 also demonstrated that these molecules fragment at the spirocyclopropane units with successive loss of the fullerene moieties. Unfortunately, however, the peaks for cyclo-Ci and cyclo-C2o carbon clusters were not observed [38]. 

Da of the monoisotopic masses, high sensitivity (down to 20fmolp,L 1), and the absence of any fragmentation, are important advantages for a L-ToF system. The main characteristics of MALDI-ToFMS, as applied directly to polymer/additive dissolutions, are summarised in Table 9.7. 

Even HALS compounds which absorb weakly at 337 nm can be analysed directly without matrix assistance, with the exception of the high-MW Hostavin N 30 (ca. 1500 Da), which fragments by direct laser desorption ionisation of intact molecules occurs only in the presence of a (dithranol) matrix. Direct laser desorption leads only to noncharacteristic, low-MW fragments. Hostavin N 20 leads to [M + H]+, [M + Na]+, [M + K]+ and some fragmentation peaks. MALDI-ToFMS of Tinuvin 765, which consists of a mono- and bifunctional sterically hindered amine, only shows the adduct peaks of the bifunctional amine apparently, the monofunctional amine is not ionisable. 

For PMMA/additive dissolutions, it was not possible to identify any additive characteristic mass peaks, either by direct laser desorption or with matrix-assistance (dithranol, DHBA or sinapinic acid, 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxy-cinnamic acid). This has again been ascribed to very strong interaction between PMMA and additives, which suppresses desorption of additive molecules. Also, partial depolymerisation of pho-tolytically labile PMMA by laser irradiation may play a role, which leads to saturation of the detector by PMMA fragment-ions and disappearance of additive mass peaks below noise level. Meyer-Dulheuer [55] has also reported MALDI-TOFMS analysis of a coating/2-ethylhexyldiphenylphosphate sample. Quantitative determination of the additives by means of MALDI-ToFMS proved impossible. Possibly the development of reproducible (automated) sample handling procedures or thin films might overcome this problem. 

Figure 2.4. Peptide fingerprinting by MALDI-TOF mass Spectrometry. Proteins are extracted and separated on by 2D gel electrophoresis. A spot of interest is excised from the gel, digested with trypsin, and ionized by MALDI. The precise mass of proteolytic fragments is determined by time-of- flight mass spectrometry. The identity of the protein is determined by comparing the peptide masses with a list of peptide masses generated by a simulated digestion of all of the open reading frames of the organism.

It should be pointed out that FAB, MALDI, and ESI can be used to provide ions for peptide mass maps or for microsequencing and that any kind of ion analyzer can support searches based only on molecular masses. Fragment or sequence ions are provided by instruments that can both select precursor ions and record their fragmentation. Such mass spectrometers include ion traps, Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance, tandem quadrupole, tandem magnetic sector, several configurations of time-of-flight (TOF) analyzers, and hybrid systems such as quadrupole-TOF and ion trap-TOF analyzers. 

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