MALDI-MS AT THE INGENIEURSCHULE-BURGDORF - THE TECHNIQUE, SOME APPLICATIONS AND EXPECTED BENEFITS FOR THE EDUCATION IN MODERN ANALYTICAL-CHEMISTRY

Analytical chemistry is changing rapidly, new methods are developed an d introduced in the analytical laboratories. Parallel to this progress , the chemical industry is undergoing pronounced changes: it is focusi ng more and more on the life sciences. Consequently, the importance of analytical biochemistry is increasing. The educational system has to keep-pace with these developments and has to integrate the new methods , which are or will be tools in analytical laboratories, into the anal ytical chemistry courses. Therefore, we were looking for an appropriat e method which would allow us to face these challenges in analytical e ducation at the Ingenieurschule (college of engineering) Burgdorf. Wit h the recent acquisition of a matrix-assisted laser desorption mass sp ectrometer (MALDI-MS), a new analytical technique which has the potent ial to fulfill our requirements can be offered to the chemistry studen ts. This contribution presents some analytical applications such as th e sequence analysis of a modified oligonucleotide, the characterizatio n of a non-covalently bound antigen-antibody complex as well as the an alysis of a synthetic polymer and copolymer. Projects how to implement the method in the analytical chemistry course and the expected benefi ts for the students are discussed.