Patent ID: 7964343

Claim:
A method of purifying a solution comprising nucleic acids for mass spectrometry analysis comprising: mixing said solution comprising nucleic acids with one or more magnetic beads linked to at least one anion exchange functional group having a pKa of 9 or greater to yield a suspension of said one or more magnetic beads in said solution wherein said nucleic acids bind to said at least one anion exchange functional group linked to said one or more magnetic beads; isolating said one or more magnetic beads from said solution by application of a magnetic field; removing said solution from said one or more magnetic beads; washing said one or more magnetic beads to remove one or more contaminants with one or more wash buffers while said nucleic acids are bound to said at least one anion exchange functional group linked to said one or more magnetic beads; and eluting said nucleic acids from said at least one anion exchange functional group linked to said one or more magnetic beads with an elution buffer compatible with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry wherein said elution buffer does not comprise a metal cation salt.