SURFACE ARRAYS OF ENERGY ABSORBING POLYMERS ENABLING COVALENT ATTACHMENT OF BIOMOLECULES FOR SUBSEQUENT LASER-INDUCED UNCOUPLING DESORPTION/

Synthetic polymers with desirable film-forming characteristics have be en chemically modified to incorporate, covalently, UV energy-absorbing molecules (EAM) of a type used for matrix-assisted laser desorption/i onization (MALDI) time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The polymer-bound EAM were activated to covalently bind macromolecules through the carbo xyl group, of the bound EAM. The EAM was shown to act as a photolabile macromolecular tether. Biomolecules covalently bound to surface array s of EAM-polymer were uncoupled and desorbed/ionized with single pulse s of laser irradiation. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd