Principle of MALDI

As the laser pulse is in the nanosecond range, a fast mass spectrometer has to be coupled in series. In most cases, MALDI is coimected to a time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer with which m/z ratios are determined by precisely measuring the time an ion needs to pass from the ion source to the detector. Besides its abil- 

5-dihydroxybenzoic acid sinapic acid a-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid 

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Previously, we gave a short description of the principle of MALDI sequencing [11]. In the following we will briefly expand on the basics of the process as applied to peptide sequencing. 

Figure 2.3 Principle of MALDI-TOF determination of molecular weight of polymers.

Figure 2.4 The principle of MALDI time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

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