Development of a novel multiplex LDI source for aerosol microdroplet/microreactor production and mass spectrometry (MS) analysis

TThe basis for this project is our recent progress and success in monitoring (bio)chemical reactions in the gas phase within a mass spectrometer using laser desorption/ionization (LDI). It is proposed to develop, investigate and optimise the analytical power of multiplex LDI for producing a multitude of plumes of microdroplets/reactors that will fuse in the ion source of a mass spectrometer, initiating fast (bio)chemical reactions and their analysis by mass spectrometry (MS), which through the simultaneous determination of the molecular mass of all species every few hundred microseconds allows the rapid and extremely well time-resolved characterisation of the (bio)chemical reactions.
Thus far, fast gas-phase reaction monitoring by MS has only been demonstrated very recently by spray ionization methods such as electrospray ionization (ESI) and desorption electrospray ionization (DESI).