Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Patent in MALDI area

NanoHorizons, Inc., stated on Feb. 15, 2005 that it has received a patent covering the company's deposited thin-film system for high-throughput small-molecule mass spectrometry. QuickMass-enhanced targets enable MALDI mass spectrometers to be used for accurate and convenient small molecule analysis using matrix-less and thin-layer matrix test techniques.

MALDI stands for Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption & Ionization.

It is used in mass spectrometry technique to facilitate large molecule analysis, operating effectively in the 1,000 to 180,000 amu range. Prior to the advent of QuickMass, small molecule analysis could not be reliably performed using these laser-desorption-based mass spectrometers. Instead, small molecules could only be analyzed using slower and costlier Liquid Chromatography/Ion Electrospray analysis.

QuickMass-enhanced targets utilize NanoHorizons' patented nanoscale non-porous germanium layer to desorb the laser energy of the MALDI instrument, avoiding the use of a matrix and thereby allowing the acquisition of a clear spectrum below 1,000 amu. Using QuickMass+MALDI creates an 80% improvement in the time it takes researchers to get results. This translates into significant time and cost reductions for pharmaceutical development, ADME (Administration, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion) testing, biomarker, proteomics, bio/chemical hazard, environmental testing and numerous other applications.

In the buckminsterfullerene (buckyball) saga, the C60 entities were generated by laser ablation of graphite, and analyzed in a TOF mass spectrometer. Ion trap mass spectrometers are also useful for analyzing high mass entities.

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