| Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) are a new class of DNA mimics in which the regular nucleobases are connected via a peptide-like backbone. PNA molecules retain the same Watson-Crick base pairing as DNA with the added benefits of greater specificity and resistance to enzymatic digestion. Since PNAs have great potential for applications in biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, it is necessary that analytical procedures for the analysis of PNAs be developed. This study has demonstrated that matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry is an effective analytical tool that will ascertain PNA purity and sequence information at low picomole level. This study has focused on the selection of MALDI matrices and the optimization of ionization conditions. Most traditional protein matrices were found to be superior to DNA matrices for PNA MALDI-TOF analysis. |
