A.E. Kubasov, A.S. Borodkov, A.A. Grechnikov, S.S. Alimpiev

In surface assisted laser desorption ionization (SALDI) method, the analytes are preliminarily deposited from a solution (when liquid phase is analyzed) or adsorbed (when gas phase is analyzed) on a surface of a specially designed substrate - an ion emitter. Then the surface of the ion emitter is affected by pulsed laser radiation, which leads to the surface-assisted ionization and desorption of analyte ions. The produced ions are analyzed by a mass spectrometer. In the paper SALDI the mass spectra of a number of biogenic amines were obtained and its fragmentation behavior and fragmentation channels were studied. Histamine, dopamine, N,N-dimethyl-1-phenylethylamine, lidocaine, verapamil and b-alanine were used as analytes. It was shown that SALDI mass spectra of all the studied compounds contain peaks of protonated molecules as well as one or two peaks of fragment ions. From the mass spectra analysis the tree main fragmentation channels of biogenic amines were separated. These fragmentation schemes were verified in experiments with adding of heavy water vapor in mass spectrometer chamber. Determination of main fragmentation channels as well as information about fragment ions mass strongly simplifies identification of biogenic amines in complex, multi component probes.