Evaluation of 2,6-dihydroxyacetophenone as matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization matrix for analysis of hydrophobic proteins and peptides.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) is widely used for analysis of macromolecules like peptides and proteins. The analysis procedure is generally simple but must be adapted to the characteristics of the analytes. Therefore, specific matrices suitable for, e.g., hydrophobic proteins and peptides that are difficult to analyze would be preferable in order to optimize the outcome. In the present work, 2,6-dihydroxyacetophenone (DHAP) was shown to be beneficial in comparison to DHB for intact bacteriorhodopsin (BR) as well as for chemically digested BR.