title: e-MALDI: An Electrowetting-Enhanced Drop Drying Method for MALDI Mass Spectrometry.
abstract: The performance of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) is frequently compromised by the heterogeneous distribution of matrix and analyte deposits on the target plate arising during the conventional drop-drying sample preparation procedure. It was recently shown that this so-called coffee stain effect can be suppressed by exciting evaporating complex fluids throughout the drying process using AC-electrowetting. Here, we demonstrate that electrowetting-assisted drying of solutions of common MALDI matrix materials and a variety of common low molecular weight pharmaceutical molecules indeed leads to substantially smaller and more homogeneous sample spots on special electrowetting-functionalized e-MALDI target plates. The improved spot quality enables 2-30× enhanced MALDI-MS signals along with substantial reductions of the typical lateral variations of the MALDI-MS. The latter largely eliminates the time-consuming need to search for "sweet spots".
authors.affiliation: Physics of Complex Fluids, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente , PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Olena
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kudina
authors.affiliation: eMALDI BV , Hengelosestraat 511, 7521 AG Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Burak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Eral
authors.affiliation: Physics of Complex Fluids, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente , PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.|eMALDI BV , Hengelosestraat 511, 7521 AG Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Frieder
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mugele