LASER MICROPROBE MASS-SPECTROMETRY - POTENTIAL AND LIMITATIONS FOR INORGANIC AND ORGANIC MICROANALYSIS .2. ORGANIC APPLICATIONS

Laser microprobe mass spectrometry (LMMS) employs a highly focused UV laser beam to ionise a microvolume in the order of 1 μm3. The produced ions are then mass-separated in a time-of-flight (TOF) or a Fourier Transform (FT) mass spectrometer. The technique allows element localisation, detailed speciation of inorganic substances and structural information of organic molecules. Inorganic applications are treated in the preceding part. This paper will focus on the organic aspects. Selected examples illustrate that TOF LMMS can achieve structural characterisation of molecules, untractable by conventional mass spectrometric techniques. Applicability to the analysis with high spatial resolution is shown and the need for surface availability of organic target molecules is discussed. The recently developed FT LMMS may fulfil the need for better mass resolution. However, the comparability of FT LMMS results with TOF LMMS data is not yet obvious. © 1990 Springer-Verlag.