Advances in MALDI and Laser-Induced Soft Ionization Mass Spectrometry

This book project aims to open up the world of modern MALDI and its applications to readers interested in the bioanalytical sciences by showing the new horizons that are now in reach with these new techniques in MALDI MS. This book encapsulates the new applications and improvements in the MALDI field such as biotyping, clinical diagnosis, forensic imaging and ESI-like ion production. In recent years advances in two important areas have been achieved. First, MALDI has been shown to be preferable to ESI in many applications such as MS imaging, biotyping/speciation and large-scale, high-speed MS sample profiling in general. Second, new methods based on MALDI or MALDI-like sample preparations and analyses have demonstrated the generation of ESI-like ions, potentially providing all the advantages of ESI to MALDI MS analysis. Despite these advances there has been greater emphasis on ESI in many application areas due to its on-line coupling with liquid separation methods and its ability to provide ions in a format ideal for modern high performance instrumentation. Nonetheless, MALDI with its higher tolerance to contaminants/additives, ease-of-operation, potential for high-speed automated sample preparation/analysis, as well as its MS imaging and other off-line capabilities makes it an ionization technique that can better cover bioanalytical areas. This book demonstrates how MALDI is preferable to ESI.