Diethanolamine assisted secondary ion mass spectrometry of naturally occurring complex oligosaccharides

A remarkable technique for identifying the molecular weight of involatile and/or thermally unstable compounds by molecular secondary ion mass spectrometry is described. This technique uses diethanolamine as a matrix material instead of glycerol which is at present considered to be the best medium. When this amine is used, adduct ions [M+DEAH]⁺ are formed from neutral saccharides, and these are very stable for reliable molecular weight determination.