Facile analysis of metabolites by capillary electrophoresis coupled to matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry using target plates with polysilazane nanocoating and grooves

摘要

We present an inexpensive method and apparatus for the depositionnof analytes separated by capillary electrophoresis (CE) ontona custom-designed matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionizationn(MALDI) target plate. This dedicated CE-MALDI plate is coatednwith an omniphobic polysilazane nanocoating and has an array ofnparallel grooves acting as recipients of the separation effluent. Then3-D pattern in the top layer of the coated plate greatly improvesnloading of the matrix solution prior to separation and facilitatesndeposition of the separated species. We demonstrate application ofnthis straightforward protocol to the analysis of metabolites from thencentral metabolic pathway in a complex biological sample spikednwith small molecule standards.