The authors of this paper adopt metal nanoparticle (NP) doped sol–gel substrates as surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization–mass spectrometry (SALDI-MS) substrates.
The authors adopt metal nanoparticle (NP) doped sol–gel substrates, initially developed for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) analysis, as surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization–mass spectrometry (SALDI-MS) substrates. Spectroscopy and mass spectrometry techniques are sometimes combined into the same analytical workflow to leverage each technique’s analytical benefits. This combined workflow is especially useful in forensic and medical contexts where samples are often precious in nature. Using dried blood and sample protocols previously developed for SERS analysis, the authors observe heme-related spectral features on both silver and gold NP substrates by SALDI-MS, demonstrating dual functionality for these orthogonal techniques. Modifying the dried blood extraction procedures also allows for the observation of blood triacylglycerols by SALDI-MS. This is the first demonstration of a SERS/SALDI-MS substrate based on a sol–gel scaffold and the first demonstration of a gold NP sol–gel substrate for SALDI-MS which features lower substrate-related SALDI-MS background compared to the silver substrate. (Published Abstract Provided)