TLC-MALDI
Bruker’s technology for direct and simple coupling TLC with MALDI-MS
Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) is broadly established for a number of applications such as chemistry, forensics, herbals, food, cosmetics or clinical/industrial applications. Particular analytes presenting difficulties for HPLC separations such as lipids, are widely characterized by TLC. In addition, TLC remains a quick and simple method to monitor the progress of chemical reactions in the organic synthesis laboratory.
However, many compounds cannot be separated well enough by TLC or or cannot be stained by specific dyes to permit unequivocal detection based on colour reactions and the downstream confirmation of molecular structures.
For mass spectrometric characterization the analytes are classically extracted from the TLC plate, which is a laborious process, compromising chromatographic resolution, dependent on previously detected and manually marked spots and does not permit for the clear analysis of overlapping peaks.
TLC-MALDI overcomes these difficulties and enables the direct read-out of TLC traces without staining. Since MALDI uses a surface bound sample, the straight TLC-MALDI analysis is the method of choice. TLC-MALDI is reproducible, sensitive and preserves the chromatographic resolving power.
