Raspberry-like polymer@Au as matrix in mass spectrometry for urine metabolic fingerprinting

Novel raspberry-like polymer nanospheres coated with gold are demonstrated for detecting metabolites using laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS). The polymer@Au nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrothermal method and applied as matrices for decoding urine metabolic fingerprints. Our platform presents superior sensitivity and selectivity in detecting metabolites among complex bio-fluids, due to the unique chemical and electrical properties of polymer@Au. This work displays a promising prospect in simple metabolic analysis of urine by LDI-MS.