Exploring Biosignatures Associated with Thenardite by Geomatrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry (GALDI-FTICR-MS)
Geomatrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (GALDI) in conjunction with a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (FTICR-MS) has been employed to determine how effectively bio/organic molecules associated with the mineral thenardite (Na2SO4) can be detected. GALDI is based on the ability of the mineral host to assist desorption and ionization of bio/organic molecules without additional sample preparation. When glycine was mixed with thenardite, glycine was deprotonated to produce C2H4NO-2 at m/z 74.025. The combination of stearic acid with thenardite produced a complex cluster ion at m/z 390.258 in the negative mode, which was assigned a composition ofC18H39O7Na-. Anatural sample of thenardite from Searles Lake in California also produced a peak at m/z 390.260. The bio/organic signatures in both the laboratory-based and natural samples were heterogeneously dispersed as revealed by chemical imaging. The detection limits for the stearic acid and thenardite combination were estimated to be 3 parts per trillion or~7 zeptomoles (10-21) per laser spot. Attempts to improve the signal-to-noise ratio by co-adding FTICR-MS data predetermined to contain the biosignatures of interest revealed problems due to a lack of phase coherence between data sets.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-99ID-13727
- OSTI ID:
- 940038
- Report Number(s):
- INL/JOU-08-14967; GEJODG; TRN: US200823%%570
- Journal Information:
- Geomicrobiology Journal, Vol. 25, Issue 7; ISSN 0149-0451
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
CALIFORNIA
DESORPTION
GLYCINE
ION CYCLOTRON-RESONANCE
IONIZATION
LAKES
LASERS
MASS SPECTROMETERS
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
OCTADECANOIC ACID
SAMPLE PREPARATION
SENSITIVITY
SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO
evaporite
FTICR-MS
GALDI
geomatrix
glycine
laser desorption
mass spectrometry
stearic acid