Abstract
•Carbon dots are excellent matrix.•MALDI-MS shows less background peaks.•Neurological biomarkers.
Carbon dots (C-dots) exhibit strong absorbance in the UV (220–350nm) range, which was exploited to transfer the energy from N2 laser (337nm) of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) to analytes for their rapid detection. Due to this strong feature and extremely small size (2–4nm), they were used to enhance the signal intensity of MALDI-MS peaks of low molecular weight biomarkers in serum. In this study, we utilized the extraordinary property of C-dots as a matrix for the detection of serotonin (Sr), glutamic acid (GA) and dopamine hydrochloride (DA) by using MALDI-MS. These chemicals are cardinal biological indicators or biomarkers for the detection of dreadful disorders like Alzheimer's disease. The limit of detection of Sr, GA and DA was found to be 3, 5 and 8nM, respectively. The background noises in MALDI-MS spectra can be significantly reduced by using C-dots which are superior to the conventional matrices such as 2,5-dihydroxy benzoic acid (DHB). The current approach can be further applied to many other drugs or pharmaceutical compounds in the near future.