Patent ID: 7550301

Claim:
A method for MALDI mass spectrometric analysis of analyte molecules comprising an amino group, comprising: providing a photon energy absorbing molecule selected from the group consisting of N-hydroxy succinimide (NHS) ester of 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid, alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid and 3-picolinic acid; mixing and incubating said photon energy absorbing molecule with a sample solution containing said analyte molecule, thereby forming a covalent bond between said analyte molecule and said photon energy absorbing molecule and thus forming a new molecule; exposing said newly formed molecule deposited on a substrate, to a laser source to desorb the analyte molecule that has not reacted with the photon energy absorbing molecule or the newly formed molecule from said substrate; and, performing MALDI analysis of the analyte molecule.