Picolinic acid as a matrix for laser mass spectrometry of nucleic acids and proteins

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Abstract
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.

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