Laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometric analysis of small molecules using fullerene‐derivatized silica as energy‐absorbing material

In spite of the growing acceptance of matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry for the analysis of a wide variety of compounds, including polymers and proteins, its use in analyzing low‐molecular‐weight molecules (<1000m/z) is still limited. This is mainly due to the interference of matrix molecules in the low‐mass range. Here the derivatized fullerenes covalently bound to silica particles with different pore sizes are applied as thin layer for laser desorption/ionization (LDI) mass spectrometric analysis. Thus, an interference of intrinsic matrix ions can be eliminated or minimized in comparison with the state‐of‐the‐art weak organic acid matrices. The desorption/ionization ability of the developed fullerene–silica materials depends on the applied laser power, sample preparation and pore size of the silica particles. Thus, fullerene–silica serves as an LDI support for mass spectrometric analysis of molecules (<1500 Da). The performance of the fullerene–silica is demonstrated by the mass analysis of variety of small molecules such as carbohydrates, amino acids, peptides, phospholipids and drugs. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.