Tertiary Matrices for the Analysis of Polyethylene Glycols Using MALDI-TOF MS

Abstract

Abstract: The effectiveness of tertiary matrices composed of the combination of three common matrices (dihydrobenzoic acid(DHB), α -cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (CHCA), and sinapinic acid (SA)) was compared with that of single or binary matri-ces in the analysis of polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymers ranging from 1400 to 10000 Da using matrix-assisted laser desorp-tion/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). A tertiary matrix of 2,5-DHB+CHCA+SA was the mosteffective in terms of S/N ratios. CHCA and CHCA+SA produced the highest S/N ratios among the single matrices and thebinary matrices, respectively. The improvement observed when using a tertiary matrix in analyses of PEG polymers by MALDI-TOF MS is believed to be due to the uniform morphology of the MALDI sample spots and synergistic effects arising from themixture of the three matrix materials.Keywords: MALDI-TOF MS, tertiary matrix, polyethylene glycols, 2,5-dihydrobenzoic acid, α -cyano-4-hydroxycinnamicacid, sinapinic acid