Laserspray ionization on a commercial atmospheric pressure-MALDI mass spectrometer ion source: selecting singly or multiply charged ions.

Multiply charged ions, similar to those obtained with electrospray ionization, are produced at atmospheric pressure (AP) using standard MALDI conditions of laser fluence and reflective geometry. Further, the charge state can be switched to singly charged ions nearly instantaneously by changing the voltage applied to the MALDI target plate. Under normal AP-MALDI operating conditions in which a voltage is applied to the target plate, primarily singly charged ions are observed, but at or near zero volts, highly charged ions are observed for peptides and proteins. Thus, switching between singly and multiply charged ions requires only manipulation of a single voltage. As in ESI, multiple charging, produced using the AP-MALDI source, allows compounds with molecular weights beyond the mass-to-charge limit of the mass spectrometer to be observed and improves the fragmentation relative to singly charged ions.