In conventional MALDI a large number of desorbed molecules are neutral and un-ionized; t-MALDI-2 uses a second laser to irradiate these neutral molecules in the desorption plume, causing secondary ionization and converting the 'wasted' neutral signal into detectable ions.
The essence of post-ionization is to improve ionization efficiency rather than change mass analysis, so the gain for low-abundance molecules is significant.
Public sources often describe MALDI-2 as bringing about an order of magnitude or higher sensitivity improvement; t-MALDI-2, as a commercialized realization of this approach, delivers a comparable improvement of the same order of magnitude.
Specific numbers should be based on vendor measured data for your target molecule, avoiding direct application of literature values across systems.
Matrix-free sources such as LDPI obtain low-background small-molecule signals through a different mechanism (photoionization); t-MALDI-2 enhances within the MALDI system. The two solve different problems: the former removes matrix interference, the latter improves sensitivity.
When selecting, evaluate separately based on 'low background vs. high sensitivity.'
t-MALDI-2 is suitable for low-abundance proteins/peptides and tissue imaging requiring higher signal-to-noise ratio; if the target is small-molecule low background, then LDPI/DESI is more appropriate.
We recommend running side-by-side tests on small samples of your own material to compare the actual performance of t-MALDI-2 and matrix-free sources.
To obtain detailed specifications, compatible models, or a quotation for the MSI LDPI / DPI full series imaging ion sources, visit the Neo-Source official website, or contact the official team for compatibility advice tailored to your mass spectrometer (Agilent / SCIEX / Thermo and other mainstream MS).