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NanoHorizons(TM) Awarded Patent Extending MALDI Mass Spectrometer performance
11 Feb 2005 -
NanoHorizons(TM), Inc., developing applied nanoscale materials and solutions, announced that it has been awarded a patent covering the company's deposited thin-film system for high-throughput small-molecule mass spectrometry. QuickMass(TM)-enhanced targets enable MALDI mass spectrometers to be used for accurate and convenient small molecule analysis using matrix-less and thin-layer matrix test techniques.
"In applications where the mass range limits of MALDI mass spectrometers have forced analytic chemists to use slower and costlier analytic protocols, QuickMass-enhanced targets enable a leap in productivity and capability," said Dr. Stephen Fonash, founder of NanoHorizons.
MALDI is currently the primary mass spectrometry technique for large molecule analysis, operating effectively in the 1,000 to 180,000 amu range. Prior to the advent of QuickMass, small molecule analysis could not be reliably performed using these laser-desorption-based mass spectrometers. Instead, small molecules could only be analyzed using slower and costlier Liquid Chromatography/Ion Electrospray analysis.
QuickMass-enhanced targets utilize NanoHorizons' patented nanoscale non-porous germanium layer to desorb the laser energy of the MALDI instrument, avoiding the use of a matrix and thereby allowing the acquisition of a clear spectrum below 1,000 amu. Using QuickMass+MALDI creates an 80% improvement in the time it takes researchers to get results.
QuickMass-enhanced targets are intended to be used once and discarded or stored for archival purposes or further analysis at a later date. They require no special handling and can be stored "on the shelf" at room temperature indefinitely without degradation. Other notable attempts to enable "matrix-less MALDI" for small molecule analysis have relied on the use of porous silicon -- which has to date resulted in targets that demand complex cleaning, storage, handling and sample preparation procedures and are easily contaminated.
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