A capillary monolithic trypsin reactor for efficient protein digestion in online and offline coupling to ESI and MALDI mass spectrometry.

We describe the preparation of a capillary trypsin immobilized monolithic enzyme reactor (IMER) for a rapid and efficient digestion of proteins down to the femtomole level. Trypsin was immobilized on a poly(glycidyl methacrylate-co-acrylamide-co-ethylene glycol dimethycrylate) monolith using the glutaraldehyde technique. Digestion efficiencies of the IMER were evaluated using model proteins and protein mixtures as well as chemically cross-linked lysozyme regarding the addition of denaturants and increasing digestion temperature. The trypsin IMER described herein is applicable for the digestion of protein mixtures. Even at a 1000-fold molar excess of one protein, low-abundance proteins are readily identified, in combination with MS/MS analysis. An online setup of the IMER with reversed phase nano-HPLC separation and nano-ESI-MS/MS analysis was established. The great potential of the trypsin IMER for proteomics applications comprise short digestion times in the range of seconds to minutes, in addition to improved digestion efficiencies, compared to in-solution digestion.