Gold and silver nanoparticles-based laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry method for detection and quantification of carboxylic acids.

A comparison of ionization efficiency for gold and silver nanoparticles used as an active media of matrix-less laser desorption/ionization (LDI) mass spectrometry (MS) methods was made for carboxylic acids including fatty acids. The matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-type targets containing monoisotopic cationic 109 Ag nanoparticles (109 AgNPs) and Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) were used for rapid MS measurements of 10 carboxylic acids of different chemical properties. Carboxylic acids were directly quantified in experiments with 10 000-fold concentration change conditions ranging from 1 mg/ml to 100 ng/ml which equates to 1 μg to 100 pg of carboxylic acids per measurement spot.