| Abstract
| - Two techniques are reported for detection of electrophore-derivatized compounds by laser-induced electron capturetime-of-flight mass spectrometry (LI-EC-TOF-MS). In bothcases, a nitrogen laser is used to induce the electroncapture. The analyte is deposited in a matrix consistingof a compound with a low ionization potential such asbenzo[ghi]perylene in the first technique, where theelectron for electron capture apparently comes from thismatrix. In the second technique, the analyte is depositedon a silver surface in the absence of matrix. It seems that“monoenergetic” ions instantly desorb from the targetsurface in the latter case, since the peak width in thecontinuous extraction mode essentially matches the pulsewidth of the laser (4 ns). Ten picomoles of 3-O-(pentafluorobenzyl)-α-estradiol were detected at a S/N ≥ 50,where the spot size of the laser was ∼0.25% of the samplespot. It is attractive that simple conditions can enablesensitive detection of electrophores on routine TOF-MSequipment. The technique can be anticipated to broadenthe range of analytes in both polarity and size that can bedetected by EC-MS relative to the range for GC/EC-MS.
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