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Updated: May 25, 2026

Identification of RNA Fragments Resulting from Enzymatic Degradation using MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry
Published on: April 11, 2022
Enhanced in-source fragmentation in MALDI-TOF-MS of oligonucleotides using 1,5-diaminonapthalene
Nathan A Hagan1, Christine A Smith, Miquel D Antoine
1Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA. nathan.hagan@jhuapl.edu
Abstract:
The capability to rapidly and confidently determine or confirm the sequences of short oligonucleotides, including native and chemically-modified DNA and RNA, is important for a number of fields. While matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) has been used previously to sequence short oligonucleotides, the typically low fragmentation efficiency of in-source or post-source decay processes necessitates the accumulation of a large number of spectra, thus limiting the throughput of these methods. Here we introduce a novel matrix, 1,5-diaminonapthalene (DAN), for facile in-source decay (ISD) of DNA and RNA molecular anions, which allows for rapid sequence confirmation. d-, w-, and y-series ions are prominent in the spectra, complementary to the (a-B)- and w- ions that are typically produced by MALDI post-source decay (PSD). Results are shown for several model DNA and RNA oligonucleotides, including combinations of DAN-induced fragmentation with true tandem TOF MS (MS/MS) for pseudo-MS(3) and "activated-ion PSD."
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