Mass spectrometric detection of nanoparticle host-guest interactions in cells

Synthetic host-guest chemistry is a versatile tool for biomedical applications. Characterization and detection of host-guest complexes in biological systems, however, is challenging due to the complexity of the biological milieu. Here, we describe and apply a mass spectrometric method to monitor the association and dissociation of nanoparticle (NP)-based host-guest interactions that integrates NP-assisted laser desorption/ionization (LDI) and matrix assisted laser desoption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry. This LDI/MALDI approach reveals how NP surface functionality affects host-guest interactions in cells, information difficult to achieve using other techniques.