In situ determination of organic reaction products by combining thin layer chromatography with surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

This study presents an in situ determination of organic reaction products on a thin layer chromatography (TLC) plate using surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization (SALDI) time-of-flight mass spectrometry. This technique can rapidly identify products and byproducts on an intact TLC plate. The characteristics of low matrix interference and low suppression effects in SALDI make this technique particularly appropriate for small organic compounds. In addition, the SALDI liquid used in the SALDI matrix system helps to reduce the interaction between analyte and silica gel on the TLC plate, thus avoiding an extra extraction procedure when preparing the sample. Furthermore, preparing the sample by combining TLC with SALDI mass spectrometry on the TLC plate is a relatively easy task. A TLC/SALDI analysis takes less than ten minutes to complete.