title: 3-Hydroxycoumarin as a new matrix for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry of DNA.
abstract: 3-Hydroxycoumarin (3-HC) was designed, synthesized, and tested as a matrix for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) analyses of a variety of synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides ranging long from three to 70 bases. Using the matrix solution of 3-HC dissolved in a mixed solvent of acetone and diammonium hydrogen citrate, DNA segments over the mass range 800 Da to 6900 Da were isotopically resolved with high signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio. The individual isotopic molecular ion peaks of a group of 23-mer mixed-base oligomers differing by one or two bases with mass differences of 9 or 7 Da were recorded. Larger oligodeoxynucleotide segments of 34-mer, 50-mer, and 70-mer have also been analyzed effectively. Less than 250 attomol of a 10-mer DNA segment was clearly detected without any fragmentation. The new matrix can be used for the analysis of DNA segments in both positive- and negative-ion modes, and the quality of all negative-ion mode spectra are as good as that obtained in positive-ion mode shown in this paper. Compared with conventional matrices of 3-hydroxypicolinic acid (3-HPA) and 6-aza-2-thiothymine (ATT), 3-HC had noticeable improvement in resolution, S/N ratio, spot-to-spot-, and sample-to-sample reproducibility for analyzed DNA segments.
authors.affiliation: Instrumental Analysis and Research Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhenying
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Lihua
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Shankai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Huimin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Qinying
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Deng
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D003374:Coumarins / Q000737:chemistry*; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods*; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003374:Coumarins; D004247:DNA; C030123:coumarin