title: Surface-assisted laser desorption-ionization mass spectrometry on titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanotube layers.
abstract: The paper reports on the use of a titanium oxide (TiO(2)) nanotube layer as a sensitive substrate for surface-assisted laser desorption-ionization mass spectrometry (SALDI-MS) of peptides and small molecules. The nanotube layers were prepared by electrochemical anodization of titanium foil. The optimized TiO(2) nanotubes morphology coupled to a controlled surface chemistry allowed desorption-ionization (D/I) of a peptide mixture (Mix1) with a detection limit of 10 femtomoles for the neurotensin peptide. The performance of the TiO(2) nanotubes for the D/I of small molecules was also tested for the detection of sutent, a small tyrosine kinase inhibitor, and verapamil. A detection limit of 50 fmol was obtained for these molecules, as compared to 500 fmol using classical matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). Both amorphous and anatase TiO(2) layers displayed a comparable performance for D/I of analyte molecules. In a control experiment, we have performed D/I of analyte molecules on a flat TiO(2) layer. The absence of signal emphasizes the role of the nanostructured substrate in the D/I process.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire (IRI, USR CNRS-3078), Parc de la Haute Borne, Villeneuve d'Ascq, France.
authors.forename: Gaëlle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Piret
authors.forename: Doohun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Drobecq
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Coffinier
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Melnyk
authors.forename: Patrik
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schmuki
authors.forename: Rabah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Boukherroub
mesh_terms: D057230:Limit of Detection; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D043942:Nanotubes; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / Q000379:methods*; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D017155:Wettability
chemical_list: C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium