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Surface sensitive analysis techniques are often based on particle probes such as low energy electrons, atoms, or ions which strongly interact with solid samples. As a consequence, they show high surface sensitivity and detailed information on surface structure can be obtained1. Chemical information, however, is often limited. As an example, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy can give quantitative information on the atomic composition and on the average chemical environment of a given species (e.g., the carbon atoms in an organic molecule adsorbed on a surface2). However, more detailed information on complex, surface-adsorbed molecules, such as their detailed structure or binding sites, is difficult to be obtained with standard surface analysis techniques. On the other hand, the need for such information is growing with the increasing interest in surface functionalization by means of organic molecules. The expanding fields of on-surface synthesis3 or surface functionalization by attachment of biomolecules4,5 are two prominent examples. In all these fields, fundamental questions on substrate-adsorbate and adsorbate-adsorbate interactions are investigated in order to better understand the systems. For these investigations, a maximum of information on the adsorbed molecules is desirable.
In part, secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) can give such information. First, SIMS is highly surface sensitive. Second, as the sputtered adsorbates and their fragments are detected by means of MS, information well beyond atomic composition is obtained. Depending on the nature of the chemical species adsorbed on the surface, it can be identified by its molecular mass and fragment pattern observed in the mass spectrum6. The fragments induced by the primary ions indeed can help for the identification of the analyzed material. On the other hand, if primary-ion induced modification (fragmentation, ion-induced reactions, mixing) of the sample is too strong, most information on the original state of the sample is lost. Thus, major efforts have been undertaken to reduce fragmentation in SIMS (e.g., using charged molecular clusters as primary ions7,8,9). However, fragmentation still dominates SIMS spectra of large macromolecules and biological samples10, limiting the application of SIMS in various fields.
As an alternative, we have shown desorption/ionization induced by neutral clusters (DINeC) to be a soft and matrix-free ionization method which has been successfully employed for mass spectrometric analysis of complex molecules11,12,13,14,15,16,17. DINeC is based on a beam of molecular clusters which consist of 103 to 104 SO2 molecules (Figure 1). When the clusters impact on the sample, they interact in various ways with the molecules on and in the surface: first, a part of the cluster's kinetic energy is redistributed and activates desorption. Similarly important, the desorbing molecule is dissolved in the cluster during cluster-surface impact11,18,19 (Figure 1 and Figure 2). In other words, based on the high dipole moment of SO2, the clusters very efficiently serve as a transient matrix for polar analytes. As a result, desorption of the analyte molecules takes place at cluster energies as low as 1 eV/molecule and below. The soft nature of the desorption process is further supported by rapid cooling of the system when the SO2 cluster shatters during and after surface impact11,19. As a consequence of these various aspects, cluster-induced desorption of complex molecules such as peptides, proteins, lipids, and dyes proceeds without any fragmentation of the desorbing molecules11,15; typical mass spectra show the dominant peak at the m/z value of the intact molecule ([M+H]+ or [M-H]-, Figure 3). Depending on the number and nature of functional groups in the molecule, multiple charged cations of the form [M + n·H]n+ are observed11,15,18. For biomolecules, ionization typically takes place via uptake or abstraction of a proton at a basic or acidic functional group, respectively11. If water molecules are present in the sample, SO2 molecules from the cluster can react with these water molecules forming sulfurous acid18. The latter can act as an efficient proton source which further promotes the ionization process in case of ionization via proton uptake (positive ion mode)13,18.

Figure 1: Schematic illustration of cluster-induced desorption/ionization and experimental set-up. Cluster-induced desorption/ionization is performed in a high-vacuum vessel. A beam of SO2 clusters (yellow dots) is produced via supersonic expansion of a SO2/He gas mixture from a pulsed nozzle. During cluster-surface impact, surface molecules are desorbed and ionized. Molecular ions (red/orange dots) are transferred via a biased grid, a dual ion funnel inlet, and octopolar ion guides into the ion trap for mass spectrometry. Typical mass spectra show dominant peaks at m/z values of the intact molecules, here: M1 (orange) and M2 (red) in positive ion mode. Blow up: During cluster surface impact, the desorbed molecules are dissolved in the impacting cluster or one of its fragments. Further shattering and evaporation of SO2 molecules then lead to the bare, intact molecular ion as detected in the mass spectrometer. See also Figure 2. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.

Figure 2: Snapshots of molecular dynamics simulations illustrating cluster-induced desorption via dissolvation. (A) An SO2 cluster (300 molecules) approaches the surface with 1250 m/s perpendicular to the surface on which a dipeptide (aspartic acid-arginine, ASP-ARG) is adsorbed. (B) During cluster-surface impact, the cluster shatters. The adsorbed dipeptide interacts with the surrounding SO2 molecules leading to its dissolvation in one of the cluster fragments. (C) The cluster fragments are repelled from the surface. The labelled fragment (blue circle) carries the dipeptide which is desorbed in this fragment. This figure has been modified from reference 19. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.

Figure 3: Representative mass spectrum and molecular model of angiotensin II. (A) Mass spectra (top panel: positive ion mode, bottom panel: negative ion mode) as obtained after cluster-induced desorption/ionization from an angiotensin II sample. The sample was prepared by drop-casting the respective solution on a Si wafer (covered by its natural oxide). The main peaks are assigned to the intact biomolecule, [M+H]+ and [M-H]-; no fragmentation patterns are observed. Dimers ([2M+H]+, arrow) further indicate the soft nature of the desorption process. The positive ion signal is more intense due to the influence of the SO2 clusters18. (B) Space-filling model and amino acid sequence of angiotensin II. White balls indicate hydrogen atoms; black: carbon; blue: nitrogen; red: oxygen. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
DINeC can be applied to any sort of solid sample which is compatible with high-vacuum conditions. No special sample preparation is required, in particular no matrix has to be applied prior to DINeC-MS measurements, in contrast to matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry and related techniques20,21. This enables real time measurements of chemical changes of the sample with varying experimental conditions such as background pressure of reactive species in the vacuum chamber22 or sample temperature. The detection limit of DINeC-MS has been shown to be in the femtomole range11. When applied to the analysis of biomolecules adsorbed on solid surfaces in the submonolayer regime, a surface coverage as low as 0.1% of a monolayer was detected23. In this coverage regime, the signal intensity depends linearly on surface coverage and DINeC-MS can be used for quantitative analysis of the surface composition23. In the case of mixed samples, a quantitative evaluation of the sample composition is possible17,24, as no major effect of the chemical environment on the ionization probability is observed (e.g., in the case of mixed lipid/peptide samples17). This is in clear contrast to SIMS, for which the ionization probability of a given species is typically strongly influenced by the presence of different chemical components (the so-called "matrix effect"25,26).
In addition to surface analysis, chemical composition in the subsurface region can be probed by means of depth profiling17. With the current set-up, typical desorption rates of cluster-induced desorption of biomolecules are of the order 10-3 nm/s. A high depth resolution in the range of 1 to 2 nm has been observed for mixed lipid/peptide samples17.
A further field of application is the combination of DINeC-MS with thin layer chromatography (TLC). Conventional TLC plates can be directly analyzed by means of DINeC-MS. Position-dependent mass spectra can be acquired from the TLC plates and thus mass-specific chromatograms can be obtained from the TLC plates27. No re-elution of the separated analytes is necessary, different to TLC in combination with ESI28,29. No matrix is needed for the DINeC-MS + TLC combination either, in contrast to the coupling of TLC with MALDI28,29.
Desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) is also a soft desorption/ionization method for MS-applications30,31. The most striking differences between DINeC and DESI are: the quantitative nature of DINeC23, its compatibility with ultra-high-vacuum (UHV) conditions, in particular the possibility to investigate samples prepared and transferred in UHV conditions without breaking the vacuum23, as well as the possibility to efficiently desorb nonpolar molecules19.
In principle, DINeC as desorption/ionization source can be coupled to any type of mass spectrometer. However, the combination with ion trap mass spectrometry features two main advantages: first, the pulse width and repetition rate of a typical pulsed cluster beam correspond very well to the discontinuous accumulation time as well as the spectral rate of the ion trap15,32. Second, the soft nature of the DINeC process leads to desorption of intact molecules. In combination with the MSn capabilities of ion trap mass spectrometry, this allows for a most comprehensive analysis of the investigated samples15.