Mechanism of cationization of sucrose by sodium in laser desorption: A study by fourier transform mass spectrometry

M. Paul Chiarelli, Michael L. Gross

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

A double-substrate, split probe was used in conjunction with Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS) to study the mechanism of cationization of sucrose during laser desorption (LD). The split probe serves to separate spatially the NaCl and sucrose while maintaining coincidence with the laser beam. Gas-phase cationization is found to occur at laser powers of 106 W cm-2, whereas little evidence for this mechanism is found at higher laser powers of 1010 W cm-2. Lower power LD is apparently sufficiently long-lived and the selvedge regions sufficiently overlapped that gas-phase cationization can occur. Under high power LD conditions, cationized molecules emerge directly from the surface or possibly from clusters desorbed from the surface. The selvedge region associated with the organic surface is short-lived and of insufficient dimension that cationization does not occur or the plasma generated is too hot to provide sufficient stabilizing collisions for the ion/molecule reaction products.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)37-52
Number of pages16
JournalInternational Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion Processes
Volume78
Issue numberC
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 24 1987

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