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Picolinic acid as a matrix for laser mass spectrometry of nucleic acids and proteins
Author(s) -
Tang K.,
Taranenko N. I.,
Allman S. L.,
Chen C. H.,
Chág L. Y.,
Jacobson K. B.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.1290080902
Subject(s) - chemistry , picolinic acid , nucleic acid , mass spectrometry , chromatography , matrix (chemical analysis) , biochemistry
We found that picolinic acid is a very good matrix for matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry of oligonucleotides, proteins and tRNA. Among the oligonucleotides, picolinic acid was shown to be effective for homo‐oligonucleotides, d(G) 40 and d(C) 60 , and for mixed‐base oligonucleotides up to 190 bases. In the case of the single‐stranded oligonucleotides, and of double‐stranded ones as well, only parent ions corresponding to single‐stranded DNA were observed. The efficiency for MALDI of oligonucleotides using the picolinic acid matrix was superior to that using 3‐hydroxypicolinic acid. MALDI of transfer RNA phenylalanine‐specific (tRNA phe ), a 76‐base ribonucleic acid, was detected with a signal‐to‐noise ratio of >10. By comparison with 3‐hydroxypicolinic acid the results with picolinic acid are notably superior for all oligonucleotides.