Chemical ionization of neutral peptides produced by matrix-assisted laser desorption

The cationization in the gas phase of neutral peptides formed under the conditions of matrix-assisted laser desorption (MALD) has been demonstrated. The beam of neutral peptides formed by MALD using one laser was intercepted several hundred micrometers above the sample surface by a beam of cations produced using a second laser. The intensity of cationized neutral gramicidin S formed in this way was comparable to the ion signal produced by conventional matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI). The threshold fluences for MALD of neutral peptides have been shown to be lower than those for formation of ions from the same samples by MALDI.