Talk:Soft laser desorption

Peer review
Hello Crafton, I have read through this wiki article. The overall structure is well, and the content of background part is detailed enough. Here are some suggestions. Maybe the Variants section can combine with application section, and provide brief information about its principle as well as the section instrumentation or the cons and pros part. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ZuyinLi (talk • contribs) 22:11, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

This is not my assigned article. I'm waiting for the article to get moved to mainspace, and then you will be able to review it. I apologize for the confusion. --JDCrafton (talk) 13:26, 30 April 2015 (UTC)

External links modified (January 2018)
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On the background paragraph mentioning Tanaka's vs. Hillenkamp's contributions.
In the background paragraph, it is stated that: "Some have argued that Karas and Hillenkamp were more deserving of the Nobel Prize than Tanaka because their crystalline matrix method is much more widely used than Tanaka's liquid matrix. Countering this argument is the fact that Tanaka was the first to use a 337 nm nitrogen laser while Karas and Hillenkamp were using a 266 nm Nd:YAG laser. The "modern" MALDI approach came into being several years after the first soft laser desorption of proteins was demonstrated."

This statement is misleading: Both soft laser desorption and MALDI need a laser wavelength in resonance with the matrix. Resonant absorption occurrs in many matrices at 266 nm, the standard absorption wavelength for aromatic systems and the 4th harmonic of a Nd:YAG laser, and, although often with weaker absorption cross-section higher wavelengths, including 337 nm. The latter wavelength is the emission wavelength of nitrogen lasers, which in the past were preferentially used for MALDI for economic, not scientific reasons. Both wavelengths are equally valid to do MALDI of large biomolecules. Thus, the use of a nitrogen laser itself does not counter the criticism to the 2002 chemistry nobel prize. To lead this argument even further ad absurdum: By now most MALDI instruments use Nd:YAG and Nd:YLF lasers and no longer nitrogen lasers, which are limited in repetition rate. I could equally argue that Hillenkamp was further ahead of his time than Tanaka...

My recommendation: Remove this argument. 217.100.203.178 (talk) 22:34, 7 October 2023 (UTC)