TY - JOUR A1 - Krause, Benjamin Christoph A1 - Seifert, Stephan A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Kneipp, Janina A1 - Weidner, Steffen T1 - Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometric investigation of pollen and their classification by multivariate statistics T2 - Rapid communications in mass spectrometry N2 - RATIONALE A fast and reliable online identification of pollen is not yet available. The identification of pollen is based mainly on the evaluation of morphological data obtained by microscopic methods. METHODS Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was applied to the analysis of extracts and milled pollen samples. The obtained MALDI data were explored for characteristic peak patterns which could be subjected to a multivariate statistical analysis. RESULTS Two sample preparation methods are presented, which require only minimal or no chemical extraction of the pollen. MALDI pollen spectra could be recorded showing various peak patterns. A multivariate statistics approach allowed the classification of pollen into clusters indicating similarities and differences between various species. CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrate the potential and the reliability of MALDI-TOF MS for the identification and, in combination with multivariate statistics, also for the classification of pollen. PB - Wiley CY - Chichester KW - MALDI TOF mass spectrometry KW - Pollen KW - Multivariate statistics PY - 2012 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-bam/frontdoor/index/index/docId/25648 AN - OPUS4-25648 SN - 0951-4198 SN - 1097-0231 VL - 26 IS - 9 SP - 1032 EP - 1038 AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany