Desorption electrospray ionization imaging of small organics on mineral surfaces

Desorption electrospray ionization (DESI)-mass spectrometry facilitates the ambient chemical analysis of a variety of surfaces. Here we describe the protocol for using DESI imaging to measure the distributions of small prebiotically relevant molecules on granite surfaces. Granites that contain a variety of juxtaposed mineral species were reacted with formamide in order to study the role of local mineral environment on the production of purines and pyrimidines. The mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) methods described here can also be applied to the surface analysis of rock samples involved in other applications such as petroleum or environmental chemistries.