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Updated: May 19, 2026

Analysis of Volatile and Oxidation Sensitive Compounds Using a Cold Inlet System and Electron Impact Mass Spectrometry
Published on: September 5, 2014
Analysis of lipids: metal oxide laser ionization mass spectrometry
Casey R McAlpin1, Kent J Voorhees, April R Corpuz
1Department of Chemistry and Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, 80401, United States.
Abstract:
Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) has been used for lipid analysis; however, one of the drawbacks of this technique is matrix interference peaks at low masses. Metal oxide surfaces are described here for direct, matrix-free analysis of small (MW < 1000 Da) lipid compounds, without interferences in the resulting spectra from traditional matrix background peaks. Spectra from lipid standards produced protonated and sodiated molecular ions. More complex mixtures including vegetable oil shortening and lipid extracts from bacterial and algal sources provided similar results. Mechanistic insight into the mode of ionization from surface spectroscopy, negative ion mass spectrometry, and stable isotope studies is also presented. The metal oxide system is compared to other reported matrix-free systems.
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