Degree of ionization (DI) in matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) was measured for five peptides using α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnanmic acid (CHCA) as the matrix. DIs were low 10(-4) for peptides and 10(-7) for CHCA. Total number of ions (i.e., peptide plus matrix) was the same regardless of peptides and their concentration, setting the number of gas-phase ions generated from a pure matrix as the upper limit to that of peptide ions. Positively charged cluster ions were too weak to support the ion formation via such ions. The total number of gas-phase ions generated by MALDI, and that from pure CHCA, was unaffected by the laser pulse energy, invalidating laser-induced ionization of matrix molecules as the mechanism for the primary ion formation. Instead, the excitation of matrix by laser is simply a way of supplying thermal energy to the sample. Accepting strong Coulomb attraction felt by cations in a solid sample, we propose three hypotheses for gas-phase peptide ion formation. In Hypothesis 1, they originate from the dielectrically screened peptide ions in the sample. In Hypothesis 2, the preformed peptide ions are released as part of neutral ion pairs, which generate gas-phase peptide ions via reaction with matrix-derived cations. In Hypothesis 3, neutral peptides released by ablation get protonated via reaction with matrix-derived cations.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization of peptides was investigated using α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid as the matrix. In each experiment, a set of mass spectra was collected by repetitive irradiation of a spot on a sample. Even though shot-to-shot variation in spectral pattern was significant, it was reproducible for different spots and samples. Each spectrum was tagged with the temperature in the early plume (T(early)) estimated through kinetic analysis of the peptide ion survival probability. T(early) decreased as the shot continued because the thermal conduction got more efficient as the sample got thinner. From each spectral set collected under various experimental conditions, a spectrum tagged with a particular T(early) was selected. Then, patterns of the spectra thus selected were the same. The reaction quotient for the matrix-to-peptide proton transfer determined at a specified T(early) was independent of the sample composition, indicating quasi-thermal equilibrium for this reaction. Furthermore, the van't Hoff plots were linear, also indicating quasi-thermal equilibrium. This, together with the thermal kinetics for the fragmentation of peptide and matrix ions, is responsible for the reproducibility of the mass spectral pattern at a specified T(early).

In a previous study on matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) of peptides using α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (CHCA) as a matrix, we found that the patterns of single-shot spectra obtained under different experimental conditions became similar upon temperature selection. In this paper, we report that absolute ion abundances are also similar in temperature-selected MALDI spectra, even when laser fluence is varied. The result that has been obtained using CHCA and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid as matrices is in disagreement with the hypothesis of laser-induced ionization of matrix as the mechanism for primary ion formation in MALDI. We also report that the total number of ions in such a spectrum is unaffected by the identity, concentration and number of analytes, i.e. it is the same as that in the spectrum of pure matrix. We propose that the generation of gas-phase ions in MALDI can be explained in terms of two thermal reactions, i.e. the autoprotolysis of matrix molecules and the matrix-to-analyte proton transfer, both of which are in quasi-equilibrium in the early matrix plume.

Even though matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) is a powerful technique for mass spectrometry of peptides and proteins, it is not quite useful for their quantification that is one of the outstanding problems in quantitative proteomics. The main difficulty lies in the poor reproducibility of MALDI spectra. In this work, a simple method to circumvent this problem has been developed. The method is based on a previous observation that the reaction quotient for the matrix-to-peptide proton transfer evaluated in temperature-selected MALDI was nearly constant regardless of the peptide concentration in the solid sample. This implied a direct proportionality between the relative abundance of an analyte ion in a temperature-selected MALDI spectrum and the concentration of the corresponding neutral in the solid sample. This relation has been confirmed by calibration curves obtained for some peptides. Another characteristic of the relation is that it holds even when other analytes are present. This has been demonstrated for mixtures containing peptides and proteins. This and the fact that the method does not require the addition of internal standards allow rapid and inexpensive quantification of any analyte amenable to MALDI.

Time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectra for a peptide (Y(6)) were obtained by utilizing matrix-assisted infrared laser desorption ionization (IR-MALDI) with glycerol as the matrix and by ultraviolet MALDI with α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (CHCA), sinapinic acid (SA), and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB). Collisional activation during ion extraction and exothermicity in the gas-phase proton transfer were found to be unimportant as the driving forces for in-source (ISD) and post-source (PSD) decays, indicating that the thermal energy acquired during photo-ablation is responsible for their occurrence. The temperatures of [Y(6) + H](+) in the 'early' and 'late' matrix plumes were estimated by the kinetic analysis of the ISD and PSD yields, respectively. The order of the temperatures was glycerol < DHB ≈ SA < CHCA in the early plume and glycerol < DHB < SA < CHCA in the late plume. For each matrix, the temperature in the late plume was lower than in the early plume by 300-400 K, which was attributed to expansion cooling. The model (thermalization followed by expansion cooling) proposed to explain the occurrence of both rapid ISD and slow PSD is not only in sharp contrast with but also mutually exclusive with the prevailing explanation that the exothermicity in proton transfer and in-plume collisional activation are the driving forces for ion fragmentation in MALDI. The model also explains why MALDI is more successful for mass spectrometry of labile molecules than other desorption techniques that do not utilize a matrix. Factors affecting the plume temperature are also discussed.

Preformed ion emission is the main assumption in one of the prevailing theories for peptide and protein ion formation in matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI). Since salts are in preformed ion forms in the matrix-analyte mixture, they are ideal systems to study the characteristics of preformed ion emission. In this work, a reliable method to measure the ion yield (IY) in MALDI was developed and used for a solid salt benzyltriphenylphosphonium chloride and two room-temperature ionic liquids 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate and trihexyltetradecylphosphonium bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl)phosphinate. IY for the matrix (α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid, CHCA) was also measured. Taking 1 pmol salts in 25 nmol CHCA as examples, IYs for three salts were similar, (4-8)×10−4 , and those for CHCA were (0.8-1.2)×10 −7. Even though IYs for the salts and CHCA remained virtually constant at low analyte concentration, they decreased as the salt concentrations increased. Two models, Model 1 and Model 2, were proposed to explain low IYs for the salts and the concentration dependences. Both models are based on the fact that the ion-pair formation equilibrium is highly shifted toward the neutral ion pair. In Model 1, the gas-phase analyte cations were proposed to originate from the same cations in the solid that were dielectrically screened from counter anions by matrix neutrals. In Model 2, preformed ions were assumed to be released from the solid sample in the form of neutral ion pairs and the anions in the ion pairs were assumed to be eliminated via reactions with matrix-derived cations.

An important recent discovery concerning the fundamentals of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) is that the abundance of each ion appearing in a spectrum is fixed, regardless of the experimental condition, when an effective temperature associated with the spectrum is fixed. We describe this phenomenon and the thermal picture for the ion formation in MALDI derived from it. Accepting that matrix-to-analyte proton transfer is in quasi-equilibrium as supported by experimental data, the above thermal determination occurs because the primary (matrix) ion formation processes are thermally governed. We propose that the abundances of the primary ions are limited by the autoprotolysis-recombination process regardless of how they are initially produced. Finally, we note that primary ion formation, secondary (analyte) ion formation, and their dissociations occur sequentially while the effective temperature of the matrix plume falls steadily due to cooling associated with expansion.

In our previous matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) studies of peptides, we found that their mass spectra were virtually determined by the effective temperature in the early matrix plume, Tearly, when samples were rather homogeneous. This empirical rule allowed acquisition of quantitatively reproducible spectra. A difficulty in utilizing this rule was the complicated spectral treatment needed to get Tearly. In this work, we found another empirical rule that the total number of particles hitting the detector, or TIC, was a good measure of the spectral temperature and, hence, selection of spectra with the same TIC resulted in reproducible spectra. We also succeeded in obtaining reproducible spectra throughout a measurement by controlling TIC near a preset value through feedback adjustment of laser pulse energy. Both TIC selection and TIC control substantially reduced the shot-to-shot spectral variation in a spot, spot-to-spot variation in a sample, and even sample-to-sample variation in MALDI using α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid or 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid as matrix. Based on the utilization of acquired data, TIC control was more efficient than TIC selection by an order of magnitude. Both techniques produced calibration curves with excellent linearity, suggesting their utility in quantification of peptides.